Shinobi Academy
by Kissa-chan
Summary: {ON HOLD} Kisa is lost and alone in the jungle. When she runs into Xeo, a tratior to Shinobi Academy, she knows she's in trouble. Chapter 12 is fianlly up. Please read and review.
1. Acceptence test

A light drizzle started. Falling from the murky gray sky to the sodden brown earth, it painted a dreary picture of the world. The trees were a sickly green and their leaves hung in unhealthy clumps. The soaked faded green grass was patchy and surrounded by oceans of sticky brown mud.  
  
The murky scenery went unnoticed to the cadets though. The mud, which was knee deep in spots, was just another obstacle that had to be crossed. The dead looking trees could be aid's or obstacles depending on how you looked at them; depending on how resourceful the boys were.  
  
Shinobi Academy was a ninja training center for young boys. At the age of thirteen the boys were sent to the school and their training in the secrete arts began. But only if they could survive the intense survival exercise that was the only acceptance requirement. If you didn't pass the test, then you were usually never seen or heard from again. It kept the weak out of the school.  
  
A small cadet with amber hair and honey gold eyes slipped in the muck. Immediately she pushed herself to her feet and took another staggering step foreword.   
  
Kisa Souma wasn't a boy. In fact she was a small girl with a shy, timid nature. A nature that her militaristic father didn't like at all. When he had returned from his long absence in Africa he had arrived looking for his thirteen year old son. Instead he had found a young girl.  
  
At first he had seemed completely okay with the mix-up. He hadn't ever gotten confirmation that she was a boy after all. "You can't help who you are," he had said simply to her.  
  
Kisa had smiled shyly. She had been worried about being rejected by her father, but instead he had been so nice to her.  
  
Of course that only lasted until her mother had gone to the store to buy some ice cream and strawberries for desert. Then he had struck her sharply on the back of her head, knocking her unconscious.  
  
When she had woken up she had just applied to Shinobi Academy. Her father's parting words had been, "If you don't pass the test you die. If they find out that you're a girl you die. In either event, I'll kill your mother if you fail." Then he was gone.  
  
And here she was. Hip deep in mud. Trudging through a murky, steamy swamp. Their were bugs everywhere and she kept losing her balance and falling into the mud, so her face was covered in grim. Actually she was covered with mud; it was everywhere. Inside her boots it squished against her toes. It rubbed against her legs and arms. Sweat cut tiny rivers through it on her chest and back.   
  
The cadets had been given only a few survival aids. A couple of rations and an empty water bottle, (they had to find fresh water themselves). A short knife for defense or offense was issued along with a small compass and vauge directions to the compound where they were supposed to go.  
  
From their starting point, the compound was ten miles east of them. Kisa had headed out in a straight line for the compound. No one else had. They had all taken a circular route, but she didn't want to attempt an easier route only to get lost. She wasn't military quality. Of that, she was certain. She was just too weak. The other children had been training at home in preparation for this acceptance exam.  
  
Kisa was almost certain that she could survive. Walking through a swamp couldn't be that difficult after all. So long as in the end she came out with her life intact and her gender a secret, and of course if no one hugged her and there wasn't too much stress put on her body.  
  
A strangled scream met her ears when she surfaced from a brief dip under the mud. 'What could that be?' she thought. The scream came again along with a loud cry from a predator of some sort. A loud thud shook the ground, causing Kisa to lose her footing and vanish beneath the mud again.  
  
'They said that we might get lost or eater,' Kisa remembered. 'That means that there are predators out here.' Obviously whoever had screamed was a victim of one of the predators.  
  
She didn't know why, but she started towards whoever was being attacked. She didn't know if she could help, but she had to try. She grabbed a decent sized tree branch and picked it up to use as a club; noting that her hand was trembling as she did so.  
  
The scream came again, this time more like a whimper. Then she was in the clearing. The first thing that she noted as that the creature wasn't. . . . normal. It some sort of wolf-like creature, but it stood on it's back two legs and was holding a long curved sword in it's left hand. It long yellowish fangs were dripping with blood and poison. In front of it and laying half submerged in the mud, was a boy with black hair, but that was all that she could tell about him.  
  
Suddenly the creature turned to look at her - a scolding hot yellow gaze raking across her. She pulled the branch into a defensive position like you would see on TV and waited nervously for the creature to make a move.  
  
WHACK! It swung towards her and smashed into her club with it's sword. The sword's sharpened blade cut through the branch easily, and almost through her arm as well. At the last possible second she flung herself out of the way, saving her arm and getting a long gash instead.  
  
She came to her feet awkwardly in the muck, losing her balance and falling face first into the mud just as it swung for her head. WHOOSH! She heard it sail past and felt her already cut hair lose a bit more off the top.  
  
She scrambled to her feet, reaching for the small knife. Clasping it in her right hand she braced herself for another attack. The creature smashed it's foot into her arm, causing it to go numb and sending the knife to be lodged in a rotting tree.  
  
Kisa moved foreword while it was off balance; surprising herself and the creature. She grabbed the creatures sword arm and held on for dear life. In retaliation the creature let go of his blade and closed his hand around her throat while laughing.   
  
He shoved her into a rotting tree with enough force to make her see stars. She tasted blood in her mouth and quickly spit it out, noting that her lips were both bleeding at the same time.   
  
"Looks like you messed up. . . . . " the creature growled. Out of it's hands claws emerged, digging into her chest as the creature prepared to rack down and split her open.  
  
Kisa's hand closed around the small knife and she quickly shoved it foreword and into the creature's stomach. She pushed her hand with the knife until the hot, sticky blood prevented her from maintaining her grasp and then. . . . . she fell.  
  
The creature was gone in a puff of smoke. She crawled over to the boy and checked him over. He wasn't really injured that badly and was looking at her strangely.   
  
"What the hell did you do that for?" he finally asked.  
  
"I was trying to save you," Kisa said.  
  
The boy laughed. "Did you really think that I was losing?" he demanded. "You've got a lot to learn. In front of her eyes the boy morphed into a tall black haired man. "What's your name and home room teacher," he demanded.  
  
"I - I - I'm just . . . . . I'm not a member of the school yet, I'm just -" Kisa stuttered.  
  
The black haired man sneered at her. "Give me your compass," he ordered. Kisa handed it over in confusion. "I'm Briar, one of the teachers at the school. Let's see if you can make it without this," he said.  
  
"Nani!" Kisa exclaimed. She was hopelessly lost without the compass. What was this man talking about? And didn't he feel grateful at all that she had come to save him?  
  
He raised his hands in front of his face and moved his fingers in an intricate pattern. "What's your name?" he asked.  
  
"Souma Ki -" she cut herself off before she got any further. Someone would have to be pretty stupid to name their son Kisa.  
  
"Well the Ki. You have until tomorrow morning to return to the school. If not, then I'm going to have you hunted down and killed." Briar smiled at her astonished expression. "Don't take it personal, but when a student is talented enough to take on an advanced enemy ninja, the entrance exams are fairly simple."  
  
Kisa watched as he disappeared like the other man had. 'At least it wasn't a monster. . . . . . .' she thought. That would have been too scary. If it were just a shape shifting man, well. . . . .she did turn into a tiger after all.  
  
Thinking of tigers brought an idea to her mind. The man at the school had mentioned that their were wild tigers in the swamp. Since tigers were in tune with her, they wouldn't attack. She would be okay if she encountered one, but more then that she had her way to complete Briar's assignment.  
  
Instead of trying to hurry out of the swamp she sat down in the mud and did something that she had never dreamed off doing before. She summoned a tiger to her.  
  
It was a large rust colored tiger with eyes the same shade as her own. She walked up to him and started talking softly. She explained that she was lost and needed to get to the ninja compound. The tiger growled softly and crouched down.  
  
Within moments she was on his back and heading towards the compound with all due haste.  
  
As the sun was going down they reached the edge of the swamp. The tiger stopped moving and she slid off his back. "Can I get a ride back in a little while?" she asked. The tiger growled while nodding it's head.  
  
Kisa ran over to the check point. "Ki Souma," she announced in a shy voice as the dark clad figures stared at her in disbelief. "I'm supposed to check in here, correct?"  
  
One of the ninja nodded. "Yes," he said. He filled out a paper and handed it too her in a sealed envelope. "You can rest - " he began to add when she turned and started back towards the swamp.  
  
"Hey!" he protested. "We'll take care of your injuries and you get to go back with to the - "   
  
"I have to be back to the school by morning," Kisa said. "Briar ordered me to be there so I have to head out now." She presumed that they would know who Briar was, he was, after all, a teacher at the school.  
  
With the tiger's help, she was back at the school by three a.m. She let out a sigh of relief and thanked the tiger again. It licked her face to show that it had been happy to help. He also promised to help if she ever needed it again.  
  
She entered the school yard and headed up the steps, uncertain about where she was supposed to be going.  
  
"I'm impressed," she head Briar's voice. "Come right this way, Ki, and welcome to Shinobi Academy."  
  
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Okay, this got a little away from my primarily writing style (humor) however I like it. Does anyone else? Please Read and Review. I'd love to know what you think.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	2. The other Shinobi

Kisa stepped into the room, greatful for the tiger's help in getting back to the school. If she had walked the entire way, she would have turned into a tiger from sheer exaustion.   
  
Briar had seemed shocked and mildly pleased when she had arrived back at the school. "Yes, you certainly have enough talent, and Frost's cell is missiong one member. . . . " he muttered cryptically to himself. Then, to her, he said, "Ki, you will be part of Frost's Cell. He'll have you filled in by this weekend. I hope that you can pull it off."   
  
He pulled a small pad of paper from a pocket in his black suit and sqribbled down a quick message in an unfamilar squirpt. "This will explain things to him," he told her while showing her down a dark hallway. He handed her the note outside a black door.  
  
The door's color matched the walls perfectly and there was no handle and practically no seams. Kisa would have walked right by it if Briar hadn't stopped her.   
  
He put his hand to the door and a quick green light scrolled down, reading his hand print. "Ki Souma," he said. He reached over and pulled her left hand up and placed it next to his own hand. "Cell one, Commander Frost. Year 13. Ability rating 5." A short beep sounded and he let go of her hand.  
  
"Frost has white blond hair. You can't miss him. Get some sleep," he ordered. And don't worry about anything until tomorrow." He turned and walked away, although to Kisa's untrained eyes, he appeared to vanish.  
  
She stood for a long moment in the hallway. He had given her the codes to open the door, hadn't he? But she still didn't know how it worked. 'Maybe if I just put my hand back. . . . ' she thought, raising her right hand and pressing it to the door in the same spot as before.  
  
Nothing happened. She tried several more times with the same results. Weary in spite of her ride through the swamp, Kisa leaned against the door. Eventually someone would have to come out.  
  
The door slid open without a sound, and she was nearly spilled into the arms of a scowling black haired teenager. In fact, if he hadn't moved she would have been exposed for what she was right then and there.  
  
"Just what do you think your doing?" he demanded. His skin was pale white against the darkness of the school, but his eyes were like buring black pits.   
  
"I - I . . . . . . " she began, but her voice failed her.   
  
His look of scorn increased. "Are you lost?" he demanded softly and threatenly. He stepped foreword, causing her to move backwards.   
  
Kisa straightened up as she moved back. She couldn't let anyone know that she was a girl, and boys didn't get pushed around like this. . . . . . did they? "I'm not lost. I'm a member of Commander Frost's Cell. I'm supposed to stay in this room." She was surprised that she could keep her voice even.  
  
"Name," the black haired boy demanded softly with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Ki Souma," she murmured.   
  
"Well, Ki. . . I'm Drake Wysta, year 15, rating 23. You, are nothing, and a disgrace to Frost's Cell. Having you for competition. . . . . . . . . it's like taking candy from a baby. . . .way . . . too. . . . easy." He smirked. "You're pathetic. You don't even know your year or level, do you?"  
  
Kisa kept quiet, watching him walk away before stepping into the room. Drake seemed to despise her already and she hadn't even been an official student for more then two hours.  
  
The inside of the room wasn't what she had expected at all. The floor was covered in tiny black and silver tiles set in an intricate pattern that didn't seem to have a purpose. The walls were painted a matte black and dulled the senses immeadiatly. There were no windows, and the air grate was black and silver. There were three bunk beds made on ebony wood. A heavy curtain of black beads hung down blocking the sleeping occupants from view completely.   
  
Kisa took a step foreword, her shoes making a slight scoffing noise on the tiled floor and her shoulder brushing against one of the beaded curtains. The crystal clear sound of bells filled the room. The beads were actually tiny black bells.  
  
Kisa was staring at the bed directly in front of her, trying to decided what to do about the noisey bells when without a sound the bell curtains on the bed parted.  
  
A tall dark haired boy with green eyes stepped out, a small dagger in his hand. "Name yourself or die," he said softly.   
  
Kisa didn't say anything for a moment. She was too surprised that he had just pushed the curtains aside without a sound. He stopped moving directly in front of her and Kisa gasped in surprise.  
  
"Kis. . . . Ki Souma," she repeated, not being startled enough to give away her real name. "I'm supposed to give this to Commander Frost," she added, holding up the slip of paper, but snagging it out of his reach before he could grab it.  
  
"Ryu. . . . I'm the Commander for Cell 2. If you're Frost's new member, then your bunk is over there on top," he said. He turned away from her and vanished back into his bunk.   
  
Kisa didn't know what to do, so she slipped into her bed, setting the tiny bells chiming.  
  
"You know. . . . " a voice bellow her commented. "If it were permitted, I'd kill you for making so much noise. Can't you tell that some people are trying to sleep?"  
  
Ryu's voice cut through the bell tinged silence. "I won't have you threatening Frost's third, Konimitsu," he warned.  
  
There was no more conversation after that.  
  
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Author's notes;  
  
That's Chapter Two. I'm trying to keep them from getting too long. How was the lengh on that chapter? Please Review me! I like knowing what everyone thinks, and as long as one person wants it, I'll have the next chapter up in no time at all.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
Kissa-chan 


	3. Cell Two's members

She didn't want to wake up. The room was dark, and in spite of the hard mattress and thin blanket, she was comfortable. And everything was quiet, there was no noise anywhere in the small dark room, but she had heard something. . . .hadn't she?  
  
Kisa frowned at the darkness. It was too complete, and she couldn't see past the heavy bell curtain. She cuddled down into the bed more, trying to will herself back to sleep.  
  
She heard the soft sound again. It sounded muted, like she were listening with her head under a pillow that was underwater.   
  
Everything was silent again, but as the saying went, it was too quiet. She couldn't sleep with the unearthly silence in the room. It was freaking her out. The hairs on her arms were standing up straight, and a tingling feeling was building at the nape of her neck.  
  
'Close your eyes and sleep,' she ordered herself mentally. The tingling increased, causing her to sit bolt upright and shoot foreword out of the bed.   
  
Except her head connected with someone or something. Stars exploded in her vision and she heard a thump as someone hit the floor.  
  
"Damm," she heard a boys voice.  
  
"What happened?" Drake's voice cut through the darkness. "Did you're new teammate attack you?" he asked harshly. "You'd think that you would have been able to defend, what with all the extra training that you take, Kenneth."  
  
Kisa rubbed her forehead gently. She wanted to apologize, but she didn't want to talk to any of the boys in the room.  
  
The curtains soundlessly parted again. "Ki?" yet another black haired boy asked. He had an angry red bump on his forehead.  
  
Kisa completely forgot about her name for a moment, so she didn't answer. Then, when she remember, she nodded.  
  
"You're tiny!" he exclaimed. "How the hell are you supposed to help our Cell?" he demanded. He reached over and tried to grab her hair, but Kisa bit his hand. He was scaring her, and it was her last defense.  
  
The next thing she knew she was on the floor, staring at the black ceiling while Kenneth dropped to the floor beside her. "Bastard!" he exclaimed. He kicked her ribs sharply causing her to gasp sharply.   
  
A brunette boy leaned against one of the ebony bed frames. "He is tiny. With the amount of noise he was making last night, I thought he had to be built like a lumberjack!"  
  
"Shut up, Konimitsu!" Kenneth exclaimed. He went to kick her again, but Kisa had rolled to her feet. He switched to a punch and swung towards her face only to be stopped.  
  
"What the hell do you think your doing?" a white blond boy demanded. He flung Kenneth's fist aside and waited for an explanation.  
  
"He frigging bit me!" Kenneth shouted.   
  
"And he knocked him flat on his back," Drake said. "I'm not sure how. . . . He's built like a timid little girl."  
  
Kisa swallowed hard as Drake pointed out exactly what she was. She was a timid little girl, not a big and strong ninja.  
  
The boy with the blond hair turned towards her. "Are you Ki Souma?" he asked. She nodded once, still keeping her distance from Kenneth. "Frost, give me your papers," he said.  
  
Kisa blinked. 'He must be talking about the note Briar left for me,' she thought. She reached into her pockets, noting the dried mud that she had been too tied to clean the night before.  
  
Frost took the note and began to look it over. Kenneth scowled at her. "Your registration and transfer papers, you dumb - "  
  
Frost held up his hand. "That'll be enough," he said coldly. Kenneth shut up immediately. Drake and Konimitsu left the room completely. He turned his icy blue eyes to Kisa. "Today is your first day?" he questioned.  
  
Kisa nodded silently again.   
  
Frost shook his head with a disappointed look on his face. "Briar comes up with the strangest things. . . . . " he muttered. He turned to Kenneth. "Show Ki around and help him through his drills. Give me an evaluation by the end of the day."  
  
Kenneth snapped to attention; his heels together and his fist held at a right angle to his chest. Kisa didn't move at all.  
  
Frost's gaze racked up and down her for a moment, making her shiver slightly. "Show him an attention stance first," he said after a moment. Then he left the room, leaving her alone with Kenneth.  
************************  
  
Kenneth led her out of the room almost immediately. The halls were still as dark as they had been the night before. She walked in silence slightly behind him until they stopped.  
  
She almost bumped into him as he stopped moving without a sound. Of course, considering that he had started moving without a sound, that really wasn't that impressive.  
  
"You're really loud for your size," he muttered.   
  
Kisa didn't say anything.   
  
It obviously bothered him, but there was nothing he could do without getting in trouble with Frost. "Go in and get fitted for a uniform," he ordered sharply, pointing at a seamless black door.  
  
"Why's everything so. . . . . dark?" she asked hesitantly. "And how am I supposed to open the doors?"  
  
Kenneth sneered at her disdainfully. "Ninja don't need lights, and you open the door with your handprint - like this," he said pressing his left hand to the door. It slid open and he walked inside, the door closing behind him.  
  
Kisa pressed her right hand to the door, but nothing happened. She was concentrating so hard on the door opening that she didn't hear anyone approach behind her until a voice whispered in her ear.  
  
"Ki Souma, did you know that you're supposed to use your left hand?" Briar asked. His voice was quiet. "How are you finding your Cell?"  
  
"Cell?" Kisa inquired. "What a fitting word for it, just like a prison." She surprised herself with the sarcasm etched into her words.  
  
Briar laughed softly. "That's not why it's called a cell," he said. "You're going to have a hard time fitting in, but Frost was short, and a member was needed. Of the new recruits you're the only one that I think could adapt in time. Too bad you're built like you are. You'd get more respect if you weren't short and bright."  
  
"Short and. . . . bright?" Kisa questioned.  
  
"Your hair will make you stand out a lot at Shinobi Academy," Briar said.  
  
'Great, now it'll be just like going to school at home only this time if I mess up, I might die,' Kisa thought bitterly. It wouldn't have been so bad if there was something other then her hair that irritated people.  
  
He pushed her shoulder lightly. "You have classes shortly and still need a uniform that'll fit you. Kenneth is waiting, I suggest that you hurry and see him, Ki."  
  
Kisa moved foreword until he stopped pushing her. "Why are you calling me Ki?" she asked.  
  
"Because it's your name. We don't have much use for last names around here. Would you prefer Souma?" he asked.  
  
Kisa shook her head. She had once again forgotten about her name. "Ki is good," she said. "Like you said, it is my name." She placed her left hand on the door.  
  
This time her hand got tingly and the door silently opened. She gaped in awe for a moment then hurried in.   
  
Kenneth smiled humorously at her. "It took you long enough," he said sarcastically.   
  
Kisa ignored him. "Whatever you say," she said. It was the wrong thing to say. Within moments he had crossed the room.  
  
"Find something that fits yourself," he hissed and shoved her backwards roughly. She could see him forming a fist as she fell backwards through a small laundry chute. In his fist had been a kunai.  
  
He had been intending to cut her with the sharp weapon. She felt grateful for the chute's presence. She only hoped that it wasn't too hard of a landing.  
  
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Author's notes;  
  
Now that I've finished introducing the main characters for this story I'll head into the plot. (Although you'll have to wait until the next chapter to see that \_/ )  
  
Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed so far.   
  
And thanks to everyone that's read this story. \_/  
  
Kissa-chan 


	4. A death plot

Kisa fell through the darkness, turning so that her feet were pointed towards the ground. Being the feline tiger did have it's advantages when she was falling, especially since cats, of all kinds, always landed on their feet. That was the story anyway, and tigers were no exceptioin.  
  
Of course, she was expecting a rougher impact when she landed. Instead she landed softly in a pile of cloth that was probably uniforms.   
  
She sank into the fabric, greatful that she had fallen on something soft and happy that she hadn't gotten stabbed by Kenneth. What had she done to irratate him anyway? She had just agreed with him, hadn't she?  
  
It really wasn't her fault that she was a member of Frost's Cell and his teammate. She hadn't picked the course events were taking; she rarely had a say in what happened during her life. The current course of events had been decided by her father and Briar.   
  
Although for the life of her, she couldn't understand why she had been put in what was obviously an advanced cell. She was only a thirteen year old girl, and in spite of pretending to be a boy, she was still a beginner at all ninja arts. Actually, she was a beginner in all fighting arts.   
  
The boys in her cell, Frost and Kenneth, were obviously really talented. They had to have been training for a long time to get to the point they were at, even if they were older then her.   
  
It really didn't make any sense why a beginer of any sort would be placed in an advanced cell. Silently, she promised to ask Briar the reasons for being placed in an advanced unit.  
  
She started crawling foreword in the sea of fabric. She still had to get her uniform and show up for her first day of training.   
  
"Area is cleared; there's no one here," a semi-familar voice announced, causing her to pause before creeping foreword even more caustiously. "That idiot, Briar is really starting to piss me off. Why can't I just kill him?"  
  
"You had your chance in the swamp and blew it. Didn't you nearly get gutted as well?" a harsh woman's voice demanded. "Briar is too sharp not to notice if you get injurred again. What I want to know is which of the teachers attacked you - or was it one of the advanced students?"  
  
Kisa peeked out of the large bin used to catch the uniforms. Ryu, the leader of Cell Two was standing with his back towards her. He was facing a wall with a strange symbol on it; a black rose entwined with a silver sword. They symbol was glowing softly.  
  
"I. . . . . ." Ryu's voice trailed off. "It was a student. . . . . . a beginner at that. Briar has put him in Frost's cell, but I don't think that he suspects anything about the identiy of his assailent in the swamp. I changed my form too much - "  
  
"And yet you let a beginner stab you in the stomach?!" The symbol on the wall pulsated at the woman's voice filled the room.  
  
"I was careless. The boy just got lucky, and it won't happen again," Ryu snapped. "When do I get to kill Briar? That is my whole purpose of being here, isn't it?"  
  
"A ninja is always quiet and patient - you are neither. If you really want to beat Briar that badly, then I suggest that you practce harder before attempting to attack him," the woman snapped.  
  
"What would a teacher at the Black Rose Academy know about it?!" Ryu hissed. He lowered his voice. "If I can't kill Briar, can I at least eliminate Frost's new cell member? He's not snoopy like the last one, but he really pisses me off!" He was silent for a couple of moments. "I want to kill him," he stated flately.  
  
"If you can find him alone and do it before he makes - " the woman began to say.  
  
"He is pathetic! I could kill him in the dark before he can tell that I'm there. He made a lot of noise going to bed last night, distrupted the curtains and everything. I was really humilated that he had drawn blood on me." Ryu sounded really irratated.  
  
"Do you really think that it's wise to kill him then? If he's as inept as you claim, then it is to our advantage if he lives, don't you agree?"  
  
"No, like I said. I want to kill him. He pisses me off and then there is my honor that he damaged although I can't let anyone here know. . . . . " Ryu glanced around, his eyes lingering for a long moment on the bin Kisa was hiding in.   
  
"Very well, permission granted. However, unlike when you killed Sou, this time I don't want you to be enemies. Befriend the poor idiot and then when the moment is right - strike. It would be too susupicious if two of your known enemies turned up dead and your presence was unaccounted for, do you understand?"  
  
Ryu smiled cruelly. "Thank you. I'll complete my assignments as previous stated, and in return, Ki Souma will die before the end of the month."  
  
Kisa's blood ran cold at his words. She had been trying to pretend that he was talking about someone else, but he had mentioned her directly. He was going to kill her unless she found someway to stop him.  
  
"Don't you think that it will take longer to establish a friendship?" the woman asked.  
  
"Are you joking? He's got, 'I wish I had a friend here that I can confide in,' written all over his face," Ryu laughed.   
  
Kisa resisted the urge to sneeze at his cold words. She also resisted the urge to cry. Was it that obvious that she didn't have any friends?  
  
Ryu stopped laughing, glancing around quickly. "That idiot Kenneth is coming," he hissed. He moved his fingers and the symbol on the wall vanished from sight. The room fell completely silent, and Ryu vanished from sight, nearly walking over Kisa as he headed up the laundry chute. Luckily, he missed her by a couple of inches.  
  
"Yo!" Kenneth said coming into the room. "Ki? Are you still down here?" He peeked into the bin, eyes searching for movement.  
  
Kisa almost stood up, but then she thought, 'What if he mentions that he found me down here? Ryu would find out and then. . . . . . . . ' She didn't let herself finish the thought. Instead, she grew absolutely silent, like a tiger ready to pounce.  
  
Kenneth cursed angerily. "Frost's not going to like this," he muttered and headed up a staircase. "Stupid boy! Why'd he have to go and dissappear?" she could hear him say as he opened the door and left.  
  
Kisa waited a moment then started up the shaft, emerging before Kenneth reached the top of the second flight of stairs.  
  
She quickly found clothes that fit her, relying mostly on what Ayame Souma, one of her older cousins, had told her about picking clothes that fit.  
  
"Kenneth," she said, keeping her voice quiet. He jumped in surprise, an an angery snarl replaced the concerned look that had been on his face.  
  
"Ahou!" he muttered. "Did you get a uniform?"   
  
Kisa nodded quickly, forcing the thoughts of Ryu from her head.   
  
  
  
"Well put it on!" he exclaimed. "We only have ten minutes before opening ceromoy!"  
  
Kisa went behind a curtain and quickly stripped out of her clothes. She realized that she was going to have to be extrememly careful about changing. "What do we do at opening ceromony?" she asked.  
  
If she was going to survive then she was going to have to adapt to the school quickly.  
  
Kenneth groaned. "Don't you even know that much?" he murmured.   
  
"No, what do we do?" Kisa asked. She tightened the belt of the black uniform and started lacing up the long folds of fabric that wound around her soft souled sandles.  
  
"We hug and kiss," Kenneth said off-handishly.   
  
"Nani!" Kisa squeked. That would be bad. If any of the boys hugged her, then she would turn into a tiger.  
  
"Don't be retarded! Of course we don't hug and kiss. We're ninjas, not girls," Kenneth snapped back at her. "Don't you know anything?"  
  
"No. . . . .not really. . . . ." Kisa said. She stepped out from behind the changing curtain after making sure that her chest was sufficently wrapped. She was fortunet to have small breasts, but they were still a little too noticble if she didn't wrap them down tightly.  
  
"Then how the hell did you get put in our cell!" Kenneth exploded. "Tell me - what are your rating numbers?"  
  
"Rating numbers?" Kisa repeated. Kenneth had begun to hand her an assortment of strange weapons that she didn't recognize.   
  
He sighed heavily. "Okay, for example - I'm a year 15, which is how old I am. My rating is 32, which is basically an evaluation of skills; you gain ratings for completing tasks. Then my last numbers are related to my cell - and what the hell do you think your doing with those weapons!"  
  
Kisa blinked as he took the pile of weapons that was accumulating in her arms and started fastening them in their proper places on her uniform.   
  
"I'm in Frost's cell, which is 1 for our division. My ID number is 75, which basically means that I graduated from year 14 as the 75th best. . . . . " He ran his fingers through his hair. "That meant nothing to you at all. . . . . tell me, when Briar keyed you into the door system what numbers did he say?"  
  
Kisa thought back. "Year 13, rating 5 - "  
  
"What the hell!" Kenneth exclaimed. "Rating 5! Just how long have you been here!"  
  
"Less then 24 hours. . . . " Kisa said. He had just handed her a sword and was helping her tie it to her back.  
  
"What the hell did you do?!" Kenneth demanded. "Rating 5. . . . . . . .Do you know what this means?"  
  
Kisa shook her head.  
  
"It means that you got what takes most recruits one month to achive. . . in one day! Just how did you manage to pull that off?" he demanded with something close to awe in his voice.  
  
Kisa kept silent. She had thought the numbers were fairly low. It was surprising that Kenneth thought they were impressive.  
  
He shook his head. "Come on. . . . opening ceromonies await us. I'll give you a run down on what they are as we head towards the Main Hall. . . . "  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
I like Kenneth. I wasn't supposed to like him because he is supposed to be mean to Kisa, but. . . . . . . I like how he's shaping up.   
  
Anyway, I'll be getting to why Kisa is in an advance cell in the next chapter (I hope -_-)  
  
Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. \_/  
  
Kissa-chan 


	5. Opening ceromonies

The Main Hall was a large amphitheater like room. Large wall hangings were hanging for the ceiling with various written characters on them. The hangings were all black with silver writing. They matched the dark decor of the school.  
  
However the rest of the room stood out in stark contrast. Bright white walls reflected the harsh white light that poured ceaselessly from the high powered bulbs set in the walls and ceiling. It was actually painful to Kisa's eyes since they had been attuning themselves to the dark.  
  
She sneezed as the bright lights caused a tingling in her nose. "Why is it so bright?" she asked Kenneth softly.  
  
He grunted something that she didn't catch and moved her onto a strange character on the floor. "Don't move from this spot," he ordered. "I'm going to find Frost and bring him over. . . . . " he wandered away from her.  
  
"Ki. . . . right?" Ryu's voice floated to her ears. "You look like your still adjusting to the brilliant lighting in here." He smiled and held his hand out towards her. "Ryu Takada, year 16, rating 521, Commander of Cell Two," he introduced himself.  
  
Kisa shook his hand reluctantly. He was trying to kill her after all. "Ki Souma, level 13, rating 5, Cell One, but you probably already knew that. . . . ." she said, letting her voice trail off.  
  
He smiled. "I wanted to apologize for last night. I'd been up all day and was quiet grouchy. Your presence caught me off guard and I didn't welcome you properly."  
  
Kisa was silent. When he said she caught him off guard, did he mean in the swamp? In their quarters he hadn't seemed to be off guard at all. He had seemed rather friendly when compared with the room's occupants; not at all grouchy like he was claiming.  
  
She forced herself to keep in mind that he wanted to kill her. "Well . . . . . ." she managed to say before a slender hand dropped heavily onto her shoulder.  
  
"Ki! I couldn't find Frost anywhere, so I'm going to have to act as his second to initiate you into our cell properly," Kenneth announced.   
  
Kisa almost jumped a foot in the air when he touched her. 'I'm going to have to get better really quick. . . . .' she realized. 'What if he had thought it would be fun to pick me up from behind and hug me?'   
  
She was in a dangerous situation with the curse that was on her and the presence of nobody but boys around her. Just one slip up and it would all be over.   
  
"I hope you don't mind taking off all of your clothes and dancing around naked. . . it's part of the initialization. . . . " Kenneth said.  
  
Kisa paled. "I have to . . . . . dance. . . naked?" she moaned. Getting turned into a tiger suddenly became the least of her problems.  
  
Ryu shoved Kenneth away from her sharply. "Don't listen to that asshole," he told her. "The initialization doesn't require you to take off any of your clothes. In fact, he can't do it without Commander Frost because the three of you have to share blood."   
  
Kisa glanced back at Kenneth who was scowling at her and Ryu. Then she sifted her gaze back to Ryu. He was smiling pleasantly at her; being helpful and friendly. Even knowing what he was planning, she was having a hard time not being grateful for his help.  
  
"If you want, I can help you through the opening ceremonies. They'll take place before the Initialization," Ryu offered.  
  
Kenneth glanced at Kisa disdainfully. "I don't see why you're being so friendly to a weakling like him," he said. "Look at the idiot, I mean just take a look at his hair. That should tell you everything that you need to know about him - he's a weirdo!"  
  
Ryu's demeanor changed, chilling the air around him if possible. "I don't expect an imbecile like you to be able to see the potential this boy has. You're far to preoccupied in keeping yourself as close to the top to recognize the talent Ki has. You can't even meet the expectations of your - "  
  
"DAMM YOU!" Kenneth shouted. He loosed a handful of shuriken at Ryu who easily battered the throwing stars away from himself without drawing a weapon; using only his gloved hands.  
  
Kisa stared in shock as Ryu vanished and appeared in front of Kenneth, kneeing him with a rising knee strike to the mouth.   
  
Kenneth's head snapped back and blood formed at his mouth. Ryu flipped one of his opponent's shuriken lightly in the air before flinging it towards the younger boy.  
  
Kenneth, who had hit the ground, glanced up, raising his forearms to take the impact of the throwing star away from his face. Ryu was known never to tone his strikes down and this was no exception.  
  
As a ninja, Kenneth was good, but in a completely different league then Commander Ryu. In fact the difference in their ratings was astonishing considering that there was only one year difference between their ages.   
  
As a result the only option he had at the moment was to guard himself as best as he could. Personally he knew better then to fall prey to Ryu's taunts, but his anger at Kisa's arrival and apparent ineptitude had already strained his patience to the near breaking point.  
  
Kisa watched as the bladed shuriken shot towards Kenneth. Without really thinking, she reached out and grabbed the spinning weapon, wincing as her hand got cut open.  
  
  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked Ryu. She reached her uninjured hand towards Kenneth who roughly pushed it aside and stood up on his own.  
  
"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" he demanded.   
  
"I was trying to save you," she said, echoing what she had told Briar in the swamp. She was getting a weird feeling of deja vu and had a feeling that he would claim that he hadn't been losing.  
  
"Did you really think that I was losing?" Kenneth demanded. He looked more offended by her offered help then anything.  
  
Kisa sighed. "It didn't really matter, did it?" she asked. "We're supposed to be a team. . . . . right?" She was making things up as she went along, for once saying things just as quickly as they came to her mind.  
  
"As your teammate, isn't it my responsibility to help you whenever your in trouble? Isn't it the essence of teamwork to work together to achieve a common goal?" She surprised herself by adding.  
  
A brief look of scorn passed across Ryu's face before he held out his hand to her. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Kenneth could have blocked that shot without your help you know."  
  
Kisa turned away from him. "I believe that if you hadn't thrown the weapon at all none of this would be happening - "  
  
"Are you trying to say that I should have let this idiot try and hit me again?" Ryu asked pleasantly. "My offer on the opening - "  
  
"I'll pass," Kisa said sharply. She turned away from him and focused on the front of the room where, she noticed, both Briar and Frost, were watching her.  
  
She forced the tears that were gathering in her eyes to stay there and not fall down her cheeks. The tears were forming because of pain. Her left hand had been ripped up the throwing star even with the protection that her gloves had offered her. It hurt, but not as much as being turned away from Kenneth for helping him. She was alone at Shinobi Academy even more then she was at home.   
  
Back at her old school she had Haru, Hiro, and Tohru to rely on for moral support when things started to go wrong. Even the other members of the Jyuunishi and her mother were comforting to be around.   
  
Back at her old school, she didn't have to hide everything about herself. She didn't have to try and be this different. Everyone knew that she was strange and all she had to hide was the curse and how much their words really effected her.  
  
But at Shinobi Academy. . . . . . . . she couldn't even let anyone know her real name without being killed. And it felt like everyone wanted to kill her or at least hurt her in some way.  
  
The ceremonies started, and she followed without help from anyone. Ryu had offered to help, but after she rejected him, he headed to a different section of the room. As for Kenneth, he stood beside her, silently fuming with fury at her assistance during his fight with Ryu.  
  
It wasn't that hard to follow the ceremony. There was a quick series of hand motions, but they had covered that in the hall on the way to the Main Hall. Then they had to speak a series of words that she didn't understand, but Kenneth had mentioned them in the hall as well. In spite of being a second behind on everything, she managed to get through the ten minute opening ceremony without much difficulty.  
  
What came next was a little bit harder. Kenneth and her were called to the front of the room - which had to have over a hundred ninjas gathered.   
  
"As many of you know, Commander Frost, leader of Cell One recently had a causality in his ranks," Briar began without preamble when they reached the front of the room.  
  
"Due to the unexpected death of Sou, the inability to reform the cell without breaking another cell, and the necessity of filling the position before the new term officially started, Ki Souma, one of our newest recruits, will be acting at Frost's finale cell member," Briar continued.   
  
"Thus, we have an Initialization to cover before classes begin." He finished his small speech with those words.  
  
He held a long dagger out to Frost and another to Kenneth. They both cut their left palms along a thin line that looked like a scar. Blood welled up immediately where they had cut and they held their hands over a black goblet.  
  
After a moment, they both handed the daggers they had used to her. She took them in her right hand hesitantly. She wasn't sure what she had to do.  
  
Briar stepped up behind her and whispered. "Cut into your left hand two parallel slashes. Be careful, the daggers are sharp."  
  
Kisa wanted to look back at him and scream that she wouldn't willingly cut herself, but since that might have gotten her killed, she restrained herself and pressed the first blade into her already bleeding left hand.   
  
She hissed as the blade cut deeper then she had meant it to. It was sharper then she thought it would be. Keeping her mouth clenched tight, she raised the other dagger and drew it across just below where she hoped the first cut was; it was hard to tell with all the blood coating her hand now.  
  
"Now hold your hand over the goblet," Briar said softly. "Don't put the daggers down at all."  
  
For several moments she held her bleeding hand over the goblet. Then Briar spoke again. "Good, now I want you to cut another slash onto Frost and Kenneth's left hands, just below the other cut."  
  
Frost was first. He held his hand out to her, his icy blue eyes locked on hers. She drew the blade across his palm, wincing as she cut deeper the previous cut was. He didn't show any sign of caring about the cut.  
  
She moved her attention over to Kenneth. He held out his hand, his eyes dark and angry as she drew the second dagger across his palm, leaving a deep gash.   
  
By now Kisa was starting to feel slightly light headed. She was still bleeding and had a feeling that she might be going into shock due to the deepness of the cuts she had inflicted on herself.  
  
"Throw the daggers to the floor and press your left hand to Frost's and hold it there for one minute. Then do the same to Kenneth," Briar quietly ordered.  
  
She pressed her hand to Frost's hand, noting that his blood felt frigid against hers. Somehow his blood felt right in spite of being cold. It suited him, although she couldn't explain why.  
  
She counted to what she hoped what sixty in her mind and then moved her hand to Kenneth's. He winced as she pressed her hand to his. A look of intense dislike passing through his eyes for a brief moment before being replaced by reluctant awe.  
  
The awe really surprised her. She made a quick note to find out why it shocked him so much. Then they moved their hands apart and the Initialization was over.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
I have nothing to say except, please review me!   
  
Oh, and thanks for reading this far. \_/  
  
Kissa-chan 


	6. The unexpected hug

Standard Disclaimers apply.  
  
************************  
  
Kisa waited until she was dismised, then made a motion to follow Briar. She still wanted to here why it had been her that was choosen for the position in Frost's Cell.  
  
"And where, do tell, do you think you're going?" Kenneth asked pleasantly from behind her. Kisa jumped slightly at his voice and turned to look at him.   
  
The black haired boy was glaring at her, his left hand dripping blood into a puddle at his feet. He didn't look happy at all.  
  
"Show him to the Training Halls and then meet me in the gardens," Frost told him. The white haired boy glanced at her strangely again. "Ki . . . . . .I think that . . . . ." he started to say before turning and walking away.  
  
"Shouldn't you have someone look at your hand?" Kisa asked softly.  
  
"If you hadn't cut this deep, then everything would be fine," Kenneth snapped. "We cannot treat the wounds ever!"  
  
Kisa looked faint suddenly. She was still losing too much blood from her hand. If it didn't stop bleeding soon, then she would transform from weakness. She turned away from him silently and started following the general flow the ninjas were making towards what she hoped was the Training Hall.  
  
Kenneth caught up in a couple of seconds. "Hey!" he protested, putting a hand on her shoulder and trying to get her to stop. It worked because he was stronger, but it was obvious that Kisa wanted to continue without him.  
  
"Look, this cut is barely anything," he told her. He thought that her reaction had been because of his injuries, and surprisingly, he didn't want her to be worried about failure too much.  
  
Kisa didn't say anything. She felt sick to her stomach. If she didn't do something to her bleeding hand she would transform into a tiger in front of anyone lucky enough to be around. They'd probably kill her and since that would mean failure on her part, her father would carry out his threat to kill her mother.   
  
Kenneth noted her pale face. He laughed lightly, but not cruely. "Ki, I can treat your injury for you, okay. If your wounds go untreated, it's a sign that you are rejected by your cell. You see, we can treat each other's wounds, but not our own."  
  
He pulled her into a different hall. "Your evaluation changed already," he commented lightly, but with bitterness buried underneath his light tone. "You got a rating of 6 already. Briar raised it for what you said after catching my shuriken. . . . . . . and about that. . . . . I uhmm. . . ." his voice trailed off.  
  
"Forget it," Kisa said softly. "It wasn't true. I just made it all up, and like you said, I shouldn't have interferred in a man to man battle."  
  
"I never said that - "  
  
"But you were thinking it, weren't you?" Kisa interrupted him, her voice still soft and hesitatant.  
  
Kenneth laughed. "Yeah, I did think it, but. . . . . .well it's only girls that have to stay out of a man to man battle. Since your a guy yourself - well there's really no problem beyond my wounded pride."  
  
He reached a seemless black door and pressed his bleeding hand to the door. It slid open silently, revealing a small room. Inside the room there wasn't very much. Three black metal chairs were situated around a table of similar colors and texture. A filing cabnit stood against the back wall and a large chest was set under the silver and black ventillation grate.  
  
He gestured for her to sit down in one of the chairs while he rumaged through the chest. "There," he said, coming over and sitting beside her with a long lengh of guaze in his right hand.  
  
He held her hand over a small sink that she hadn't noticed, and scrubbed her small hands until they were clean of blood.  
  
"Why did you get so mad at Ryu earlier?" Kisa asked. She was remembering why she wasn't slipping into an unresponsive mood. If she wasn't alert all the time, then it would make Ryu's self appointed task all that much easier.  
  
"He was insulting me," Kenneth said flately.   
  
"How? Why?" Kisa asked.   
  
Kenneth had finished bandaging her hand up. "That's none of your bussinses," he snapped, his gentle tones replaced by angry ones.  
  
"Sorry," Kisa said automatically. She snagged his sleeve as he was leaving the room. "I'll treat your hand now - can you tell me what to do?"  
  
A soft, appreciative look flitered across his features for a brief moment. "My injuries aren't bad - "  
  
"That's a lie!" Kisa exclaimed harshly. She was using a tone of voice that Hatori Souma, the doctor in her family, used whenever anyone was pretending to be well when they were sick.  
  
Speaking like that shocked her, but it also caught Kenneth off guard. He sat down in the chair and stared at her, shaking his head in dissapointment. "You'll never be good enough," he said. Kisa blinked; it was evident that he was talking to himself, not to her.  
  
"You're better then me," she said.   
  
It was the wrong thing to say. "Of course I'm better then a snot nosed brat like you!" Unable to control his temper, he reached out and slapped her across the face with his bleeding hand.  
  
Kisa quickly grabbed his hand and shoved it under the hot water pouring from the facucet. "What is this room?" she asked. She really wanted to change the subject before he lost his temper even more.  
  
Kenneth stopped moving and let a slow smile strech across his face. "When ninjas are in training they are divided into Divisions. When they are active, they are divided into Cells. This is our training room. This is where we prepare to go out on dangerous missions. You see, it's just your luck that you get to transfer to an active cell immeadiatly. You're going to see combat very soon. . . . . . "  
  
Kisa had finished wrapping his hand in gauze as his words sunk in. "What kind of combat missions?" she asked, her voice too high pitched for her own comfort.  
  
"Ninja stuff. . . . . assassinations, bodyguard work, infiltration, annilation. . . . just to name a few to the missions we get. The last one was even tough enough to kill Sou who had a rating of 341. That's very high, don't you think?"  
  
"How did Sou die?" Kisa asked, her words trembling slightly with fear at her worsening prediciment.  
  
"Sou was found gutted in the Caves of Oblivion during a recovery mission. He had all of his weapons scattered around him, and his own sword was pinned through his ruined chest. The culprit was never caught and never identified."   
  
Kenneth smiled at the shell shocked look on her face. "I'll see you later," he told her before he walked away.  
  
Kisa didn't move. If Sou's death had been caused by Ryu, then he had to be very good. She probably wouldn't be able to defend herself against him for more then a second. Then it would be all over, and she would be dead.  
  
She shivered with the thought, unable to force herself to leave the room.'What if you tell someone who killed Sou?' she asked herself. She remembered the awestruck look on many of the teachers faces when Ryu had casually turned Kenneth's attacks back on him without much effort. They looked like they had faith in his talent. They'd probably not believe her, even if she did tell.  
  
That meant that she had to deal with him on her own. She had to stay alive without explaining to anyone the identity of the man trying to kill her and Briar.  
  
She stood up and headed for the door. If she was going to survive Shinobi Academy, it was going to take a lot of work.  
  
************************  
  
It took her a couple of hours, but Kisa finally found the main training halls. Entering proved to be difficult with her left hand wrapped up in gauze, but with the amount of people coming and going from the room it was only a matter of waiting for the door to open. Then she had to get it before it closed.  
  
Ryu and his team were training against a wooden pillar. They were using their weapons on it, but it was in a set pattern. She moved to the other side of the room. It had just occured that if she were a member of an advanced cell she wouldn't attend usual classes.  
  
That meant she would have to train on her own and improve rapidly at the same time. 'First, I should learn to use my weapons. . . . . . or maybe to move without making a sound, but that'll take tons of practice so maybe I'll just work on - '   
  
Her thoughts were abruptly cut off as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and reached for her chest.  
  
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Author's notes;  
  
I'll bet your all curious how she manages to avoid having her secret found out. That is, both her secret about the curse and her gender.   
  
Well, you'll have to read the next chapter to find out. Oh, and be sure to review me. \_/  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	7. Three weeks of training

The arms were strong and wrapped around her painfully, trying to feel her chest through the tight bandages she had wrapped it down with. Kisa did the only thing that she could think of - she dropped her head to the arms holding her and bit down with every ounce of strengh she had.  
  
Of course, the point would probably be moot in a couple of seconds. When she transformed into a tiger in front of everyone, it would all be over. She was prepared to go to combat with anyone who tried to kill her. She wasn't going to go down without a fight.  
  
She tasted blood in her mouth. Her teeth had managed to penetrate through the clothes of the ninja embracing her. It didn't taste right though. Usually when she was in tiger form and tasted blood she got slightly excited as her animalistic nature took over.  
  
It also tasted different - sweeter and more metalic then usual. It made her want to gag. She pulled her mouth away from the bitten arm at the same time that it was pulling back from her.  
  
Kisa blinked as she didn't change form. She was still a girl pretending to be a boy. The taste of blood in her mouth was still revolting. Her secret was still safe.  
  
She heard someone cursing behind her and turned slowly to view whoever had hugged her.   
  
It was a tall black haired woman with ice blue eyes the exact same shade as Frost's. She was holding her bleeding arm tightly to her stomach, and glaring angrily at her.  
  
Kisa stared in shock for several moments. Finally she found her voice, managing to inflict angry sarcasm into her voice. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she snarled with difficulty.  
  
"You little bastard!" the tall woman retorted. "You make me sick. You are a disgrace. . . . . the most pathetic boy that I have ever seen!" she continued to yell at Kisa, but the tiger had tuned her out.  
  
If she were the woman, then she would probably feel that she made a pretty lousy boy. Actually she was already getting that impression. She was used to insults, although they were usually whispered behind her back. Either way, veiled or not, she had grown accustumed to ingnoring them.  
  
So when she spotted Briar, she hurried over to him immeadiatly. He was talking to a couple of dark clad ninjas who looked rather agitated. However, as soon as he spotted her, he offered a small smile.  
  
"Ki, just the person I was looking for. I need you to - "  
  
"Absolutely not!" the woman screamed. She had stalked after Kisa, still holding her bitten arm tenderly.  
  
"Why not?" Briar asked lightly.  
  
"That little vixian - "  
  
"Vixian is a word reserved for females, and I saw what happened. Ki was within his rights in defending himself, and you know it, Juline Aria," Briar interrupted. He glanced sidelong at Kisa. "I really have to take him away from here for a while," he added.  
  
Juline Aria, who was Frost's older and less talented sister, bristled as Ki was led out of the room by Briar.  
  
"You really need to pick your enemies more carefully," Briar muttered softly to her as they headed down the hall.   
  
They entered a conference room much like the mission briefing room. As it turned out, the two ninjas were investigating Sou's death and thought that there might be a conection between it and the recent attack on Briar. Since she had been present during the attack on Briar, they wanted to question her.  
  
Kisa briefly debated telling them that she knew who it was, but when one of them casually mentioned that Ryu had been particulary interrested to see what she knew, she decided not to mention him at all.  
  
They left the room with no new information.  
  
"Ki, you could probably learn a lot on your own, but if you want, I can train you personally," Briar said before he dismissed her from the room.  
  
Kisa, who had barely said five words since entering the room turned to look at him strangely. "Why would you do that?" she asked.  
  
He brushed a strand of black hair out of his eyes. "Because I have a feeling that you may be targeted by the Black Rose Academy."  
  
Kisa remembered that was the name of the school Ryu was working for. The same school that had already given permission for her to be killed. What Briar was saying was true - she was being targeted by the school, but he was also being targeted.  
  
"As of the days of old, ninjas work in the shadows. Many people on the outside of the darkness we shroud ourselves in don't even realize that there is an active ninja society functioning in their midst. However, as with all things, there is two sides to the society. The ninjas at Shinobi Academy wouldn't dare dream of hurting an innocent -"   
  
Kisa interrupted Briar. "Who do we work for? Who commands us?" she asked, catching him off gurad for a moment.  
  
His voice faltered mid-sentence and he stared at her silently. "The Japanese government empoyees most ninjas. Some are independent and others have allied themselves with terorists and work as assassions."  
  
Kisa was quiet, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she prompted him to start with a soft spoken question. "Who do we work for? When you graduate from Shiobi Academy, where do you work?" She keep her eyes on him, not blinking, just staring imploringly at him, waiting for an answer.  
  
He looked away. "We work for the government, but specialize in assassionation," he said finally, he didn't sound pleased.   
  
Kisa turned away from him, and he caught her wrist tightly. "You still need special training. In three weeks Commander Frost and his cell will move out on assignment. You're not supposed to know until the day before, but you have to be ready."  
  
Kisa turned to look at him again. He his grip loosened. "I had no choice but to put you in his cell, but I'll be dammed if I let you get killed because of neglagince," Briar said tightly. "Don't make me order you to train with me. It would be easier if you were willing to - "  
  
"Aa." Kisa said. She was staring at him strangely. In all reality, she was just feeling light headed from blood loss. She was experiencing shock from learning that someone wanted her dead. She was feeling bad about not having anyone at all to talk to. She was worried that her secrete would be discovered. She was worried that she'd be hugged or pass out from weakness and stress. All of that, and it was only her first day.   
  
Briar seemed content with her answer. He showed her back to the training hall and started teaching her what her weapons were used for.   
  
For the next three weeks, Kisa fell into a routine that was tiring and stressful. From 8 p.m. to 12 o'clock a.m., she slept in the top bunk in her room. The belled curtains were still hard to slip through wihtout sending them jingling, but with surprising help from Kenneth, she was able to get into the bed without waking everyone. Konimitsu, who was a light sleeper always woke up, but to combat that, she went to sleep before he did.  
  
At 12 in the morning, when she had to wake up to begin the days training, she began training with Briar in a small dark hall. Until one o'clock, she practiced with the main weapon of a ninja, a sword. By the end of those lessons, her arms were sore, and she felt like she was going to transform, but one way or another she managed to get through the lessons somewhat intact. Although she did cut herself by accident more time then she came close to hitting Briar with the sword.  
  
After sword practice, Briar put her into hand to hand combat. Initially, she had been freaked out about doing that type of traing; what if someone got too close? However, Juline ended up being her reluctant partner in the sparring matches, and the rest of the time she spent smashing her shins and fists into a sand filled bag hanging from the ceiling.   
  
  
  
The highly competive Juline was constantly trying to seriously injury her. Kisa learned to be quick and avoid the majority of the attacks. She was focusing mainly on improving her defense. In a real fight with a man, she would have to make sure that her secret wasn't discovered. As a result, Juline always won their battles because she seldom threw any techniques unless she felt they could get through.   
  
At three in the morning, a time when she wished she were asleep in bed at home, Briar started her on indurance training. Push-ups, sit-ups, and jogging were some of the the exercises that he put her through. Briar had tried to put her in a pool to do laps, but that was one thing that Kisa flat out refused to do. He had argued and argued, but she had stocically and silently refused him.   
  
Then it was more. She worked with all of the other weapons for an hour. Then she did even more specialized hand to hand fighting. That was followed by more endurance traing, except the second time she had to wear fifteen pound weights on her ankles and wrists, not to mention the wieghted tank top that she wore under her black shirt.   
  
By that time it was 6 a.m., the same time that she usually woke up at back home. After a quick breakfast, she was sent into a series of special classes that focused on the mental aspect of fighting.  
  
She took classes in writing, staregy, mathematics, history, language, science, chemistry, medicine, and of course, disguise.   
  
Some of the classes were what you would expect them to be. History, science, stratagey, disguise, medicine, and mathematics all prgressed like Kisa expected them to. However, in language and writing, she was taught different languages and expected to assimilate them as quickly as possible.   
  
After all of that it was luch time. From three o'clock to four o'clock she helped prepare meals and then quickly ate. After that, in her free time, she went into the swamp and practiced more.  
  
She had taken to wearing silver bells on her sleeves and belt. In the swamp, she would have the tigers hunt her and try and get away without making any noise. At the end of three weeks, the score was 845 to 1 in favor of the tigers. The number was disspointing, but Kisa noted that she had won once and that would have to be good enough.  
  
During the three weeks, Ryu was very friendly to her. She decided to be friendly back, not making an visible enemy of him, but she wasn't friends with him either. She kept in mind not to find herself anywhere alone with him. It was made easier by the busy schedule that she kept for herself.   
  
Once, he had followed her into the swamp. It had been the one time that Kisa had succefully hidden from the tigers. She had been really scared that time. He obviously had been planning on killing her.  
  
As for the other members of her cell, Kenneth was as insulting as ever. He acted like he hated her, but Kisa was starting to get the impression that he was jealous, although she couldn't imagine what he would be jealous of. It made her feel more friendly to him, although she rarely bothered talking to anyone.  
  
Frost, who apparently never spoke very much, always took a long time explaining things to her. He watched her training with Briar critically and was always offering adivce. Kisa had gotten the impression that he was very helpful until she spotted him completely ignoring several dozen people at once.   
  
He projected a cold wave around himself, and in spite of seeming open and friendly, Kisa fianly realized that she knew nothing except his name, rating, and and year. He remained a mystery throughout her three week training period.  
  
Then, on the last day, Briar summoned their cell. "You have a mission," he said calmly. He waited for a moment and handed a think manila envelope to Frost before leaving.   
  
The three of them went into their briefing room. "So, what do we got?" Kenneth asked, rubbing his hands together. He looked excited about finally getting some action.  
  
"Seek and destroy," Frost said softly and without emotion. "We leave tonight."  
  
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Author's notes;  
  
I had to make some time pass, and her describing her training let everyone know that she was learning. However, don't get me wrong. She's still a beginner, just working hard at getting better.   
  
Oh, and I meant to include the reason why the training took place at night. It's because ninjas work best in darkness. If they trained during the day, it might throw them off. \_/  
  
Thanks for reading, and please review,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	8. Midnight depature

The small jet was painted midnight blue. It's six windows were tinted, letting no light out. The landing gear, which was currently extended was an endless black that reflected no light.  
  
At the moment, a long shaft of soft yellow light was pouring from the open door to the plane, but even that light was dim. The stairs leading to the oval opening were covered in matte black pads, and were rather steep, with a least a foot between each individual step.  
  
Kisa Souma watched as Kenneth and Drake preformed a preflight check on the black craft named the 'Dark Storm.' She had learned only several minutes prior to her arrival at the landing field that Ryu's cell would be accompanying them on their mission.  
  
It wasn't really a comforting thought. Throughout the night, her only comfort had been in the thought that she would be leaving him and the danger that he represented behind her. She would be able to relax against his upcoming murder attempt.  
  
In fact, if she went away, he would have missed his deadline. He had promised to kill her within one month. That month was nearly past. She had managed to elude him for three weeks.  
  
She had managed to train and get better and most importantly, not get killed. She didn't have any illusions about his ability to kill her. She knew that he had been waiting for the proper time to arise, something that she was keen to keep from happening.   
  
Ryu hadn't known about the mission, or at least she didn't think he did. Briar had told her only because he felt bad about putting her in an advanced Cell without prior training. He had told her so she would train harder and get better.   
  
"I didn't realize in Dead Man's Swamp that you couldn't fight at all," he had told her after a long, hard training session. The black haired teacher had seemed disappointed in himself, but he kept it carefully concealed.  
  
Kisa hadn't responded then. She had already known that she couldn't fight. In fact, the only reason that she had done any damage in that fight had been because of her stupid luck. The knife had gotten lodged in the tree, she had been able to pull it out and stab the shape shifted Ryu. It was luck, nothing more and nothing less. She had no illusions about that.  
  
"We're ready to get loaded," Frost announced from behind her. The dark color of his clothes made his white blond hair stick out against the darkness of the school, and the piercing blue of his eyes seemed to bright.   
  
Compared to Ryu, who was standing beside him, Frost looked bright and cheery. The other man's dark hair and eyes matched the pitch blackness of the night perfectly.  
  
Struck with a sudden thought, Kisa asked a question. "Commander Frost?" She drew her arm across her chest in the ninja version of a salute.   
  
"Aa." His cut sharply through the night air. His eyes had narrowed slightly at her. The look would have made him seem angry if not for the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.  
  
Kisa almost glanced down at her feet. Frost didn't like it when she talked with her head down, she had gotten struck for doing it before. "How do you . . . blend in with your hair? I mean, it's so bright and - "  
  
He didn't wait for her to finish. Instead, he pulled a black hood up over his hair, nose and mouth.   
  
She blinked as his outline seemed to fade for a moment. When her eyes were open again, he was gone. Ryu offered her a smile. "Not really the wisest thing to say to your commander," he commented.  
  
Before Kisa could respond, she felt a knife pressed against the base of her throat. She tensed in surprise and raised her hand to attempt some sort of defense.  
  
"You're dead, and you even knew where I was to begin with," Frost said calmly from behind her. He sighed heavily and replaced the blade from wherever he had taken it from. With one hand, he pulled his hood back, revealing his bright hair again.  
  
"I can't believe they gave us a mission. We should have been given more time . ." Frost murmured, his voice trailing off as he looked at Kisa.   
  
"It can't be helped. He was your friend and you know him best," Ryu said. He started to head towards the plane.  
  
Drake and Kenneth were motioning that their pre-flight check was finished. Both of them were standing in the doorway, blocking out the dim light and making it even harder to see.  
  
Kisa perked up her ears, waiting for Frost to respond or Ryu to say something else. Neither of them said anything more as they boarded the plane.  
  
She sighed softly. She hadn't known that their target was a former friend of Frost's. Nobody had told her that. Somehow, knowing made her sad. Would he really be able to kill their target?  
  
Xeo was the only name given for the target. He was apparently seventeen years old. Like most ninjas, he had black hair and dark eyes. His numbers were more then impressive, they were unbelievable. Year 17, Rating 22,459, Cell Thirty-eight.  
  
Apparently, he had killed his team. Then, stealing some sort of plans from Konimitsu's father's office, he had disappeared into the night.   
  
Kisa hadn't been permitted to know what the plans contained. All she had been told was that they were extremely important to the safety of the entire country of Japan.   
  
Like the others, she had two sets of orders, Team Orders and Separation Orders. The team orders were clear. She was to be in charge of communications between all the other team members. Frost had insisted that she stay at a safe location and the others had all agreed, although Ryu had seemed reluctant.  
  
Those orders were simple and welcome. If she were in charge of coordination then there was absolutely no chance that she would be forced to kill someone. There was also a very high chance that she wouldn't get killed either.  
  
However, her Separation Orders were more complex and dangerous. She was to proceed with the mission on her own. Her primary goal would be to recover the papers. Next, she would hunt down and kill Xeo after destroying the plans. If, by some weird stroke of luck she survived that, she would hunt down and kill all people - man, woman, or child - that had been associated with Xeo. The forth part was to return back to Shinobi Academy and register a full report.  
  
She was certain that if it came to those orders she wouldn't survive.   
  
She started up the steps and claimed her seat by a window. Clipping herself in, she watched as Briar gave Frost and Ryu some last minute orders.   
  
"You really don't stand a chance in a fair fight so I . . . . . . do you understand? Oh, and about Ki . . . . . . . . . . " Briar added.  
  
Kisa strained her ears, but he had lowered his voice was even went so far as to switch languages.  
  
Ryu glanced over at her and nodded.   
  
Frost didn't show any visible emotion. In fact, is not for the time she had observed him, she would have said that he didn't even care. But she noticed the minuscule tightening of his mouth. He was angry, but what was it about?  
  
"We're ready to go," Kenneth announced.  
  
The black haired teacher stood up and nodded. "Of course. Good luck. . . .and don't fail, ne?" Briar seemed to be dead serious. "Kill Xeo and burn his body if you must. I want confirmation on his death and the plans either in my hands or destroyed."  
  
With those words, Briar turned and silently slipped off the airplane. Moments later the lights dimmed to a shadow casting hue and the door closed, sealing the six ninjas inside the craft.  
  
Kenneth and Drake slipped past a heavy black curtain and into the cockpit.   
  
After a couple of seconds, the low thrum of the engines came to life. Kisa glanced out the window, looking for any sign of the black buildings that housed the ninja cadets at Shinobi Academy. Nothing but a low white mist met her eyes, and the craft soon climbed high into the clouds.  
  
Kenneth came back after they had been flying for a while. He saluted Frost. "We're set on course and will arrive at our destination in seven hours. I've already contacted Akai at Amazon Academy. She informs us that our additional equipment will be ready when we arrive."  
  
Frost nodded to show he understood the younger man's words. "Call her back in about an hour and have her check around for some smaller weapons for Ki. He might be better suited to have a woman's weapon. The weapons that he has right now are slightly too big for him." He handed Kenneth a list. "These are the measurements on him, and a list of the weapons he has right now."  
  
Kenneth took that list and saluted again. He headed into the cockpit laughing lightly. "Ki's going to get girl's weapons," he announced before the curtain slipped back into place and cut off his words.  
  
Kisa glanced back at Frost, but he was deep in conversation with Ryu. She didn't know that they were going to a different school. She presumed that they were going to land at an airport or a private landing field at a secret military base. Hell, she even thought that they might land at an official military base.  
  
"Mitsu-san?" she questioned the brown haired boy sitting across the aisle from her.  
  
He looked up, an irritated look on his face. "Nani?" he asked impatiently. He had a book in his hands and had been reading in spite of the poor lighting.  
  
"What is the Amazon Academy?" she asked, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't disturb Frost and Ryu.  
  
Mitsu, as Konimitsu preferred to be called, shot her an acid look. "Obviously it's a ninja school in the Amazon," he said, rolling his eyes at her.   
  
"Why are we going there?" she asked. "Is the school an alley of ours?"  
  
"What makes you think that we have allies?" Mitsu demanded. "The Amazon Academy is a ninja school, but in a fight, they would turn on us right away."  
  
"Why?" Kisa surprised herself by asking.  
  
"You have to ask? What kind of man are you? The Amazon Academy is run by females and they only except female recruits. Since all women are weak and untrustworthy, they would turn on us in combat . . . . . . It's just the way girls think. They aren't loyal at all. Stupid little bitches, that's all they are," Mitsu spat.  
  
Kisa was silent. She had grown rather still. If there was a training ground for female ninjas, then how come she hadn't been sent there? Why had she been sent to a boy's only academy? It didn't make any sense.  
  
Mitsu reached across the aisle and grabbed a handful of her hair. "Hey, Ki! I'll bet that you could pass yourself off as a girl and enter Amazon Academy. They you could see naked chicks dancing around in the shower."  
  
Kisa glared at him icily until he let go of her hair. She had been working on looking at people in a dangerous fashion. It had occurred that if she looked at them like she expected to be hit, they would probably comply with her expression and beat on her.  
  
All the same, she was shocked when he actually let go. He seemed to be just as shocked. Within seconds of letting go, he snapped back at her and hit her full in the face with a rock hard fist.  
  
Kisa's head snapped back and she saw stars. Mitsu laughed. "Bastard, you had best learn your place," he smirked.  
  
Frost raised an eyebrow at Mitsu and then turned back to Ryu. "As I was saying. . . . . . " he started in on his conversation without another word.  
  
In the meantime, Mitsu had snapped another punch at her face.  
  
"What the hell is your problem?" Kenneth demanded. He caught Mitsu's wrist and stopped the punch inches from Kisa's face.   
  
He had been watching Kisa in the security cam that linked to the cockpit. He had been expecting her to object to receiving girls weapons and had been waiting to she what Frost did in retaliation.  
  
He hadn't expected Mitsu to hit her, but he understood that Frost expected him to let the situation continue.   
  
"Ki needs to learn to pick his battle more carefully," Frost had announced before they had bordered the plane. "I don't want him to receive any help on this mission. Just because he's a newbie doesn't mean that we have to baby him."  
  
"Like I would!" Kenneth clearly remembered retorting. Still, as soon as Mitsu's fist had connected with the younger boy's face, he had left the cockpit and stopped the second shot.  
  
Kisa looked up at him in surprise.   
  
Mitsu glowered, but opened his hand and drew it back to his lap before turning and closing his eyes.  
  
"I think that you were already told to pick your battles more carefully," Kenneth said quietly. He handed her an ice pack and a towel to wrap around it.  
  
"I couldn't just let him pull my hair. . . . " Kisa murmured.  
  
Kenneth grabbed a fistful of her hair and then let go. "You've got it too long," he told her. "It's easy to grab and hold onto. You need to get it cut either now or when we get back to the Shinobi Academy."  
  
Kisa raised one hand to her head and almost brushed her hair wistfully. It had been hard enough to cut in the first place. She couldn't imagine cutting it shorter.  
  
Kenneth pressed the ice pack to her face. "Just sleep, okay?" he whispered angrily. "You're going to need it."  
  
"Thank-you," Kisa murmured as she closed her eyes. She really was tired and the punch she had gotten had caused her head to start pounding.   
  
She heard Kenneth snort disdainfully. "Why the hell are you thanking me?" he hissed.  
  
"Because you helped me. . . . ." Kisa muttered. Then she fell asleep. Kenneth watched her for several moments and then returned to the cockpit.  
  
A loud bang jostled Kisa out of her sleep hours later. The smell of burning fuel filled her small nose, and thick black smoke was stinging her eyes. She coughed as the smoke filled her mouth, nose, and lungs.  
  
"We're going to crash!" she heard Drake shout.   
  
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Author's notes;  
  
At long last, another cliffhanger! I hope I was clear enough on their mission profile. I also hope that everyone likes it so far. Please review me . . . . I love getting reviews and am extremely happy whenever I get one.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	9. Jungle chase

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
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The whining roar of the engines hurt her ears. The pungent black smoke billowing around her stung her eyes. She coughed into her hand and her whole body shook.  
  
"I'll take Ki!" she heard Ryu shout.  
  
"Iie. . . " she tried to stay, but a blast of smoke to her face left her coughing violently into her hand.  
  
Kisa was grabbed by the back of the ebony black uniform she was wearing and jerked towards an emergency exit. She struggled, not wanting to go anywhere with Ryu.  
  
"Stop it!" Frost snapped. His features were all composed, but something about his words let her know that he was worried and maybe even on the verge of panic. Hiding his feelings, he grabbed a black pack and threw it to her. "Put it on and then jump with Ryu!" he ordered.  
  
She stared at the pack strangely. Her watery vision refused to allow her to see very many details, but for the most part it seemed to be just like a regular back pack. She slipped it onto her back, and held a couple of the straps in confusion.  
  
Unlike a normal back pack, a parachute needed to be fastened tightly so it's wearer wouldn't plummet to the hard earth bellow them. Since she had never even went on a plane ride before, she didn't know where all the straps were supposed to go.  
  
The normal thing to do would have been to ask Ryu to help her. However even in the midst of smoke and confusion, she had a feeling that he was planning on killing her soon. If she asked him, he might guide her incorrectly so that she would plummet to her death. In the same breath, if she didn't ask him, she would probably do it wrong anyway.  
  
Before she could make up her mind, the straps on her parachute were taken out of her hands and secured around her body. "Stupid boy. . . . . " Kenneth muttered. "Don't you know how to do anything right?"  
  
Before she could answer him or even thank him, Ryu grabbed her arm and pushed her out of the emergency exit.  
  
For several terrifying seconds she just fell.  
  
They were over the Amazon and it was day time. The trees looked like a springy green carpet from where she was. Every now and then a thin, murky line signified the presence of a river, and even rarer were the jagged gaps in the leafy canopy.  
  
And she was plummeting towards it with eye tearing speed. She screamed loudly, but the wind stole her voice away from even her ears.  
  
Then she was buffeted by a strong gust of wind.   
  
She closed her honey brown eyes and began to count to ten. It was no different then falling from a tree, she told herself. Reaching ten, she opened her eyes and saw Ryu.  
  
He was practically beside her and had a smile on his face. "Ki Souma!" he shouted. "I'm going to - " but the wind stole the rest of her words.  
  
"Nani!" she screamed back at him. She was assuming that he was threatening to kill her.  
  
He smiled and pointed up towards the plane that was still billowing black smoke. Then he pointed to his hand.  
  
Her eyes trained in on them. He was holding a fist sized object with a bright red button. At first she didn't understand what it was. She had never seen anything like it before except when watching T.V.  
  
Realization dawned on her as his finger closed over the button and he pushed down.   
  
The loud bang from the explosion sent heat coated winds flying in all directions. Her eyes trained on the plane, she watched as it was completely engulfed in a fiery orange ball.   
  
'Please let everyone have gotten out,' she thought furiously. The smoke and flames were starting to die down, pieces of wreckage heading towards the jungle canopy. "Please. . . . . . ." she whispered.  
  
She spotted a lone figure dropping away from the wreckage.  
  
"I almost blew up Mitsu!" Ryu laughed, drawing her attention away the destroyed plane.   
  
She had tears of rage and fury glistening in her eyes. "How could - " she started to scream. Then something tore into her shoulder, ripping through the black fabric and nearly severing one of the precious straps tying her to her parachute.  
  
Ryu pulled a cord and his chute opened up, a pattern of a black rose on it. He was holding a couple of shuriken in his right hand and flipping them lightly.  
  
Before she knew what was happening, he was flinging them at her with deadly accuracy. She went for her own shuriken, hoping to somehow stop his offense with her own. Then she seen the jungle canopy.  
  
She was less then fifteen feet from it and falling fast. Her hands flew to the release cord and she pulled it, watching the black chute slowly fill with air.  
  
Her velocity slowly slightly and then she smashed into the vibrant green canopy just as it started to rain.  
  
The branches slapped at her face, arms, neck, and legs as she fell. Once or twice she crashed into a branch that offered strong resistance to her weight. One of those times she had heard a crack that didn't come from any branches. She guessed from the blossoming pain in her chest, that she had broken a rib or two.  
  
Her fall was cut short abruptly as her parachute got caught on several branches. She was left dangling in the air, looking at the still distant ground.  
  
"Well, that's no fun," Ryu's voice came from somewhere in the jungle greenery.  
  
"Why not?" Mitsu's voice joined him. Evidently both of them had landed with cat like grace. None of them sounded the slightest bit injured. "I think his getting hung up like that will be great fun!"  
  
"Oh?" Ryu's voice came. Kisa could imagine his left eyebrow arching upwards slightly as he uttered his single worded sentence.  
  
"Sure . . . .We cut gradually cut him to pieces with our shuriken," Mitsu said, laughter in his voice. "I'm sure the pain will really piss him off! He might even cry like a baby girl!"  
  
"Too easy. He's weak already," Ryu answered. "I think we need something a little more painful. It's been too long since we killed anyone."  
  
"Bastard!" Kisa screamed. She didn't even try to conceal her feminine sounding voice. "It has not been long since you kill anyone! You just . . . . . you just. . . . . . " her voice trailed off as a sob shook her body.   
  
They were all dead. Even if she hadn't been good friends with any of them, she didn't want them to die. She wanted them all to live. She wanted them all to be alive. None of them had deserved to die.   
  
Kenneth, who was always snide to her, was also one of the kindest people at Shinobi Academy. He looked out for her while making it seem like he disliked her strongly. Kisa had finally seen through his act and realized that he didn't hate her. He wanted to protect her because she was weak.  
  
It had occurred to her when he had stopped Mitsu's second punch, only hours earlier, that if he had known she was a girl . . . . He wouldn't have let Mitsu walk away from the 'Dark Storm' alive.  
  
He had a protective nature in him. He thought that she was a boy, and that was why he was careful not to show his protective nature. He didn't want anyone to think he was soft.   
  
And yet, at the same time he had been jealous of her. That jealousy could have turned into a friendly rivalry, Kisa was certain of it.  
  
She had never really gotten a chance to know Drake, but Frost was always kind to her. He probably was feeling guilty for letting one of his cell mates die, but that didn't change the facts that he always had some sort of advice to give her.   
  
Even at his cruelest, he was looking out for her. Now she wouldn't even be able to find out about Frost's friend, Xeo.   
  
They were all dead. . . . . .   
  
"That wasn't nearly painful enough for my tastes," Ryu informed her. The sharp sound of air being rapidly displace filled her ears, forcing her thoughts away from the deceased ninjas.   
  
From hours of training with Briar, she realized where it was coming from. Her reflexes weren't good enough to do anything but dodge. An advanced ninja like Briar would have been able to catch the shuriken and throw it back before the attacker even realized his attack had failed.  
  
She twisted her head out of the way, her left cheek getting split open in the process. She almost cursed. She still wasn't fast enough. Briar had warned her not to think at all when attacks were coming in.   
  
"It will only distract you," he had told her. "Just let your body's training take over and you should be fine."  
  
"I bet you don't remember who I am. Or even where we first met. . . . " Ryu called out from the trees. He flung eight shuriken this time and Mitsu flung four.  
  
There was no way that she could dodge. She braced herself, trying to keep all vital areas away from the many edged stars. They cut her arms and legs, leaving bloody gashes in her clothes.  
  
"Why do you want to kill Briar?!" she shouted. She was fumbling with the release straps, but Kenneth had tied them tightly so that she wouldn't fall out while in the air.  
  
A shuriken smashed into her hand, digging deep into the back of it. She screamed in pain.  
  
"I don't see how that's any of your business, but since you're about to die I'll tell you," Ryu said smugly.  
  
"Briar has to die because he has the Darkness Sphere. Once he's dead, the Sphere will be mine and then. . . . . ." his voice trailed off. "Dammit! Kill him now!" he shouted.  
  
Kisa had only been listening to his explanation in part. Most of her attention had been on getting the straps untied.   
  
Her fingers were refusing to corporate because of the shuriken sticking out of the back of her hand. The sight of the blade gave her an idea though. She waited until he had started to talk and then pulled it out with her other hand.  
  
Blood seeped down her arm as she tightly clasped the weapon and severed the cords holding her to the parachute.   
  
She heard Ryu call for Mitsu to kill her, but by then it was too late. She was plummeting towards the ground once again.  
  
Landing on what she hoped was the forest floor, she started to run. Her legs felt strange after dangling for so long. The cuts of various deepness made them ache as she forced them to propel her foreword.  
  
Her entire perspective narrowed to racing between the ancient trees and thick foliage on the ground. She tripped and fell often, although that was helping her avoid getting killed by the deadly shuriken.  
  
Both Mitsu and Ryu were behind her, but she couldn't hear either of them. She was afraid that they could hear her though.  
  
Her breath was tearing through her throat in ragged gasps. Her feet were snapping twigs and the smaller branches were slapping against her. She could faintly make out the rustling of fabric in her pants. She imagined that the sweat pouring down her back and face was roaring as loudly as any river. She was certain that the pounding of her head was shaking the ground around her.  
  
In the end, even if she was as silent as the night, she wouldn't have been able to run and hide. Everywhere she ran, she left a trail of blood for them to follow. There was no way for her to escape.  
  
She realized that with a sob and almost came to a stop. Maybe if she fought them both she might injure or kill one of them. . . . . maybe. . . .   
  
Her body was trembling. She stopped running. It hurt to breath. Her clothes was in tatters. She looked down at her hand, wondering if it would allow her to close it around the handle of her katana.  
  
Her vision blurred for a moment and she found herself laughing. If Hatori were to see her now . . . . . . . The time Akito had beat her was nothing compared to the pain she was in now.   
  
Hatori would be so worried. He'd probably give her pain killers to keep her from transforming. She remembered that he always said that it was easier to treat them in their human form.  
  
Her eyes widened. That was her solution. She started to run again, confident that when her body could take no more it would transform. Then she would be safe, but only if they didn't see the transformation.  
  
She picked up speed, running with tiger like grace through the jungle. The trees were no longer obstacles, they were her friends. Every tree that she zipped around offered protection from their prying eyes and their blood thirsty shuriken.  
  
She still got hit with the blades, from time to time, but she was pushing herself harder then they were. She was trying to work herself into a collapse. They fell behind, or at least she thought they did.  
  
Then, she stumbled and her body could take no more.  
  
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Author's notes;  
  
Well? What do you think? Questions? Comments? Let me know!  
  
Oh, and I really don't like Mitsu or Ryu -_- They're just nasty!  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	10. Danger again

Disclaimer;  
  
I don't own Fruits Basket or any of the characters from it. I do own Kenneth, Ryu, and everyone else at Shinobi Academy.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
~~~~~~~~~At Souma House~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Akito-sama?" Hatori questioned softly. He was kneeling a couple of feet away from the head of the Souma family.  
  
It was late evening and the head of the family was draped out of the circular window in his room. His dark hair was falling into his eyes and he had an emotionless look on his face. He pulled looking dead off too easily for the doctor's taste.  
  
Akito raised his head slightly from where it was resting on his arms. "What is it, Hatori?" he asked, his voice falling softly from barely moving lips.  
  
"It's about Kisa."   
  
Akito pulled away from the window abruptly and snapped it shut with an audible click. "Has she been located then?" he asked. There was a mad glint in his gray eyes now, a look that made Hatori glad that Kisa hadn't been heard of at all for over a month.  
  
"No, we did locate her father though. . . . . . . " Hatori said softly.   
  
"Where?" Akito demanded softly. "Why didn't you bring him here? I wanted to have words with him." The black haired youth was now coaxing a small white bird on the tip on his finger. "Tell me, what did he do with my tiger?"  
  
"We caught up with him near Kyoto. He wasn't brought back because we weren't the first ones to catch up with him," Hatori said. "He - "  
  
"What do you mean? Who else was pursuing him?" Akito demanded.  
  
"I don't know," Hatori said, there was a hint of anger in his words and Akito noticed it right away.  
  
"Hatori," he warned the dragon, a dangerous note in his voice. "Don't you even start to get mad at me. Just tell me what I want to know."  
  
"And what might that be?" Hatori asked, looking down at his hands and letting his anger at Kisa's father slip away from him.  
  
Akito spent several moments staring at the white bird. "I should have thought that would be obvious. I want you to bring Kisa back here RIGHT NOW!" His demand ended in a shout that sent the white bird fluttering away from him. His turbulent gaze swept upwards and locked on Hatori's. "Well?! Tell me, have you recovered her yet?!"  
  
Hatori looked away, not wanting to face Akito's wrath with the words he was about to say.  
  
"Don't look away from me!" Akito snarled. He reached over and roughly seized Hatori's chin and forced him to look back at him. "Now! Tell me!"  
  
"Her father was found murdered for unknown reasons in a park in Kyoto. He had all of his money and identification on him - "  
  
"You say 'murdered' how do you know that he didn't just die of natural cau-" Akito began to say.  
  
"Stop it!" Hatori snapped. "He was covered in blood. He had been stabbed at least forty times by some sort of bladed weapon and had small throwing stars embedded in his throat. Don't question my choice of words!"  
  
It was the wrong thing to say. Akito slapped him across the face and flopped down on his futon. He didn't say anything, but he watched Hatori carefully, listening attentively for what was bound to be said next.  
  
"There was a message on the body. It said, "You should have kept your son at home. He doesn't belong here.' It wasn't signed and . . . . . I . . . . it was referring to Kisa," he said with sudden certainty. I don't - "  
  
"So she's dead then?" Akito asked softly. He sounded angry, but didn't make any other comments or even raise his voice.  
  
"It is likely." Hatori hated to say that. It was his job to keep the Juunishi in good shape and if a member was dead it made him partially to blame.  
  
"Then . . . .there will be a new tiger in the family shortly. Keep a watch on all the pregnant females and let me know when our new tiger arrives."  
  
Hatori bowed from his knees and made to leave the room.   
  
"Oh, and Hatori, when she or he is found. . . the new tiger that is. . . . . the child will be staying at the main house with me regardless of how the parents feel." The tone and look that Akito was portraying dared anyone to challenge him.  
  
Hatori didn't take the dare. "Of course," he said and left the room. He still had to tell the other members that Kisa was dead. He sighed. Somehow he knew that it wasn't going to go very well.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
~~~~~In the Amazon~~~~~  
  
Kisa woke with gnarly roots and sharp rocks digging into her back. The foreign sounds of tropical birds met her ears and the rich jungle smells engulfed her sense of smell in a wave of sweet smelling air.   
  
Her body, on top of all of her injuries, was itchy. She reached her hand up to her face, slapping at her cheek and opening her eyes.  
  
A wave of pain shot from her palm to her shoulder as she aggravated the shuriken caused injury. Almost worse then the pain was the sight that met her honey brown eyes.  
  
A visible swarm of bugs hovered around her, buzzing loudly and swooping in to drink her blood in a never ending chain. Her arms, now that she was looking at them, were covered in small red bumps that stood testament to her time on the menu. Along with the bites were gashes of varying depths that had been caused by Mitsu and Ryu.  
  
She spent several moments mindlessly scratching at her bug bites before she thought about anything. Her entire situation was a little much for a thirteen year old girl. She wasn't supposed to be lost in the Amazon Jungle, warding off bugs and being hunted by two trained ninjas.   
  
She swatted at another bug and ended up hitting a particularly nasty gash on her forearm. Staring at the injury, it occurred to her that she should stop the blood flow.   
  
The wound was only oozing a little bit of blood right now. When she transformed, her fur had acted as a stopper to losing too much blood. It would probably need to be cleaned, but in the meantime wrapping it up would probably be a good idea.  
  
She reached for the bandages that she had been wrapping her growing chest down with. To her surprise her fingers met only bare skin. A quick examination showed that she was completely naked and there was no sign of her clothes anywhere.  
  
"Na-na-nani!" she stammered in confusion.  
  
Then she remembered. After transforming, she had kept going. She hadn't stopped to see what Mitsu and Ryu were going to do after they found her clothes. She had run as far as she could as fast as she could.  
  
Then she had passed out.  
  
Like always, transforming left her naked to the world. Usually she had some sort of clothes available when she came back. Usually she wasn't in a jungle.  
  
Of course, usually she wouldn't feel so calm about the situation. A surreal feeling had stolen over her, making her calm and disconnected from her plight. She wasn't really sure that was a good thing, but she wasn't alarmed at her lack of knowledge.  
  
There was one good thing about being in a jungle, she decided as she began to trek back to where her clothes might still be. In a jungle, she didn't have to worry about anyone coming along and finding her naked. She didn't have to worry about being discovered as either a girl or a tiger. None of that mattered to anyone around her.  
  
The babbling of a river drew her wayward attention away from her clothing trek. It didn't really matter if she took her time in getting her clothes. It was bound to be there when she got there and if it wasn't, then Ryu had taken it and probably had deducted that she was a girl by now.  
  
She knelt down beside the crystal clear stream she had heard laughing and splashed water in her face.  
  
If Ryu did know that she was a girl now, then the only way she wouldn't be able to return to Shinobi Academy and no one would be mad at him for trying to kill her. They would take his side and her father would hear that she wasn't in the Academy anymore. Then, he would probably carry out his threat and kill her mother.  
  
The ripples created by her cupped hands faded away and she starred at herself hard. Her brown eyes stared back and her small features looked smudged and tired. Her hair was embarrassingly short and boyish, but that had been the idea. To her own eyes, she looked like a girl who wanted to be a boy.  
  
It was hard to believe that any of the ninjas had been fooled. She shook her head, trying to keep her thoughts in line. She had been trying to think about what she should do if her secret had been discovered.  
  
The water stared back at her and she found herself slipping into the water and closing her eyes.   
  
"If I prove that I'm a good ninja, then they'll keep me at the school," she said out loud. "There is one girl there, Frost's sister. . . . . " her voice trailed off as she thought of the leader of her cell.   
  
It hadn't been fair that he had died, but even worse then that was the death of Kenneth, the one person she could secretly call her friend at the school - although he probably wouldn't like her saying or thinking that.  
  
She shook her head, still trying to reign in her thoughts. "Right, so if I complete the mission and return, then they'll feel more inclined to believe me, ne?" she asked herself.  
  
It was an easy assumption to make, but she hadn't really been given many details about their mission.  
  
She started washing her bug bitten and bloodied skin absently as she turned the problem over. There was a slim chance that she could find Xeo's hideout in the jungle by herself. That chance was made smaller by the lack of knowledge she possessed of him.  
  
'On the other hand,' she thought as she lowered herself under that water and rinsed out her short, amber hair, 'If I find that girls' school, there's a chance that they can help with my mission objectives.'  
  
That choice seemed easier, but she really didn't want to take it. What would the girls say to her? It was in her experience that girls were more critical then boys and with the exception of Tohru and her mother, she hadn't ever gotten along with any of them. They would probably just make fun of her boyish, amber hair and small size.  
  
She surfaced, still lost in thought about how to proceed with catching Xeo.  
  
"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see a pretty young girl bathing in the river," a man's voice crossed that water and reached her ears and the water trickled out of them.  
  
Kisa ducked down into the water instinctively. "Who are you?!" she shouted, her voice panicked. Whoever it was had come out of no where. She looked at the person with a full glare on her face.  
  
The young man leaning against a tree started to laugh and stepped foreword, his dark eyes and hair clashing with the vibrant green of the jungle. "I should be asking you that - ninja!" he said with a dastardly look in his eyes.  
  
Kisa blinked. He looked . . . . sharp for lack of a better word. He looked talented and he didn't look compromising at all. His black hair was long and pulled back in a samurai's ponytail. His eyes were midnight blue and almost black. They were also fixed on her.  
  
She screamed and started to splash water at him, knowing even as she did so that it was useless and the man was a ninja himself. Of course the water was serving her purposes.  
  
It made him confused. He had tagged her as a female ninja, but if that were true, then why was she attacking him in a useless fashion?  
  
"Don' look!" she screamed, her voice high and panicked. The panic was real, but the high, thin voice she was making was fake. When she panicked, she got quiet. "I'M NAKED! DON'T LOOK!" she screamed.  
  
"Gomen nasai," he apologized and turned around. "It thought that you were someone else. . . . . . There are some people after me and I just presumed. . . . "  
  
At that moment she knew that he was Xeo. She toyed with the idea of attacking him while his back was turned, but somehow she knew that she would die before she even got close to carrying that plan out.  
  
"Do you have any clothes?" he asked, distracting her with his soft words.  
  
"Iie," Kisa whispered. She couldn't go for her clothes now. They were a ninja style and combined with the weapons that would be with them. . . . he wasn't as stupid as she would have hoped he would be.  
  
"Japanese?" he questioned. "What are you doing in South America?" The suspicion was back in his voice, but Kisa already had an excuse for her being there.  
  
  
  
"I came with my father, but got lost while exploring the jungle. I lost my clothes a while ago while bathing. . . . . some sort of tiger chased me and I didn't dare go back for it."  
  
Xeo nodded his head slightly. He believed her story. "Listen, I live pretty close to here. . . . or I'm staying close. . . . but anyway, you wait here and I'll go get you some clothes, ne?"  
  
"That would be . . . . . nice," she said. She really wished that he hadn't been nice. She had been planning on killing him and taking the papers back to Shinobi Academy.  
  
He nodded once and hurried off.  
  
"Matte!" Kisa shouted and wished she hadn't. Saying, 'Why are you being nice - don't you know I'm supposed to kill you,' was somehow not the best thing to say.  
  
He stopped but didn't turn around. "Hai?" he questioned.  
  
Her growling stomach supplied her with an answer. "Could you bring me something to eat? I'm starving," she said.  
  
He laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Is there anything that you like in particular? I'll see if I can find some back home. . . . "  
  
"At this point I'd eat just about anything," she confessed truthfully.   
  
"Then I'll be back with the food," he promised. Then, without even being able to follow his movements, he was gone.  
  
Kisa gathered some water in her hands, meaning to splash it in her face to try and clear her head. Her scabbing injury met her eyes. He would recognize it as a shuriken injury, she was sure of it.  
  
Quickly she pulled a jagged rock from the bottom of the stream and reopened the wound, tearing the skin until any clean edges were gone. Then she did the same for her arms, legs, and back.  
  
She worked quickly, ignoring the pain as best as she could. Then she summoned a large orange tiger to her and climbed out of the river. She stumbled immediately and asked the tiger to chase her.   
  
He agreed and she took of running, making sure to fall often and coat her blood on the rocks. She also screamed once she was sure Xeo was far enough away from her not to get back too quickly.  
  
Then she had the tiger claw her shoulders lightly and bid him to flee as heavy foot falls came closer.  
  
Everything was all set now. Xeo would take her back to his place because he was a gentleman and then she would proceed with her mission from there. Even if she decided not to carry out her plan.  
  
The last bushes keeping her from seeing Xeo were suddenly pushed aside. It wasn't Xeo that emerged from the bushes though.  
  
His brown hair slightly tousled and his face covered in bug bites, Konimitsu smiled at her cruelly. "So you're a girl, are you?" he asked and drew his sword.  
  
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Author's notes; Okay, I'm going to tell you now, I really don't like Mitsu and Ryu. That being said, let's continue with my notes.  
  
I decided to add a little bit with the other Juunishi, mainly Hatori and Akito. For me, I believe that when one zodiac member dies, another child receives the curse of the animal that they were. So if, as they're assuming, Kisa died, a new tiger would possess the first child born after her death. That being said, I hope no one really disagrees and if anyone knows where a complete description of the curse is ( particularly the part about Akito ) I would appreciate it if you let me know.  
  
Anyway, thanks to everyone that read and reviewed,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	11. Death

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kisa's eyes widened in surprised horror as the brown haired ninja pushed through the greenery and advanced towards her with his sword glinting dangerously.  
  
Mitsu looked unaffected by the jungle. There were no bug bites on his body and he didn't appear to be scratched by the tree branches at all. It was like he was nothing more then a dark shadow prowling through the trees and grasses. He was a shadow that had been hunting her.  
  
"Ki? I wonder what it might stand for. . . . . ." Mitsu mused as he smirked cruelly at her, his teeth gleaming white against his tanned skin. "Well, no matter - I'm going to kill you regardless!" he exclaimed.   
  
He shot foreword, his katana sweeping down in a quick sharp stroke towards her throat. "Die!" he hissed as he swung his sword.   
  
Kisa pushed her entire body down, but barely managed to evade the strike. Mitsu's katana cut through the tree bark above her head and was quickly drawn back to him and launched out at her again.  
  
"To think that a pathetic, worthless, ugly girl could enter Shinobi Academy!" Mitsu snarled as he made several faints.  
  
Kisa knew that he liked to faint attacks and was trying to keep alert for what was a real strike and what was a fake strike.  
  
"And to think," he said pausing suddenly, "That you are to die honorably by the hand of a dedicated, honorable, and talented ninja like myself," Mitsu added.  
  
"Bastard!" Kisa exclaimed. "If you had any honor, you wouldn't have killed Drake! He was a member of your cell - he was your teammate. And you're not talented - you killed them using a bomb! As for dedication. . . . . . . you're nothing but a traitor!" she surprised herself with all of her words, and caught him off guard too.  
  
Before she could take advantage of his distraction, he struck. His sword arched towards her faster then she move.   
  
Time seemed to slow for her. Her honey brown eyes were wide with shock. She had never been attacked with that kind of speed before. It was scary. She knew, as she watched Mitsu's katana coming closer to her face, that she couldn't move in time. Even if she tried it wouldn't matter. Mitsu had perfect technique in his strike, and he wasn't going to miss.  
  
She tried to think of all of her family back in Tokyo. She tried to think of Haru, Hiro, and especially Tohru, but all that she could see or think was the fact that she was going to die and someone else was going to be cursed with the spirit of the tiger.  
  
That thought caused her to move. Even if it was useless, she couldn't let someone else's life be ruined by the curse that affected her. She couldn't let it happen. She twisted away slowly, realizing that the slow motion of the sword was affecting her too.  
  
Mitsu laughed, but it sounded distant and dead. He was laughing at her, but she didn't care for once. She didn't care what he thought of her, or even what anyone else thought about her.   
  
Then time resumed normal, and Mitsu's sword vanished in a blur heading towards her neck.  
  
Kisa closed her eyes quickly. She didn't want to see the finishing strike. She tried once more to think of home and her family. This time tears sprang to her closed eyes and leaked past her eyelashes. Then a ringing clatter echoed through her head and she opened her eyes.  
  
There was a dull blue and silver bladed sword in front of her face. Resting on top of it was the cool gray of Mitsu's katana's blade. The blue and silver sword was held in a lightly tanned hand with three red lines - like claws - scraped across the back.  
  
"Nani?!" Mitsu exclaimed. He sounded just as surprised as Kisa was.  
  
"Attacking an innocent girl?" Xeo's voice cut through the thick, humid jungle air like a steel blade. There was a swishing of fabric and a heavy black cloak fell over Kisa, shielding her from view.  
  
"Xeo?!" Mitsu asked in surprise. He laughed. "I guess you saved me the trouble of tracking you down. Returning with your head on a platter will be sure to boast my ratings."  
  
"I wasn't aware that Shinobi Academy still excepted weak idiots. . . . " Xeo murmured. "In any event, how do you plan on taking my head from my shoulders?"  
  
"I'll use something that you've never seen before," Mitsu chuckled. As he spoke, his voice deepened and his mouth widened. His eyes changed shape and color, becoming a sickly yellow with one large, black, vertical pupil focusing on his adversary. His body became longer and scales appeared along his body. His tail, which grew quickly, developed spikes along it and his sword took on a wicked looking curve.  
  
Xeo snorted disdainfully and knelt down beside Kisa. "Are you all right?" he asked. "I take it that you were pursued?" He made to pick her up, but she whimpered and he stood back up instead.   
  
He moved his head slightly to the side and put his sword beside his face, blocking Mitsu's sword with a minimum of effort. He pushed the curved blade away from him and walked over to a tree where a black pack with silver fastenings was hanging.  
  
"I brought you a kimono," he called over his shoulder towards Kisa. "I wonder. . do you know how to put it on? It's not really a common fashion style anymore."  
  
"I- I - I know," Kisa stammered out. Mitsu's new form was eight times faster then his previous one and he was getting really close with his sword.  
  
"Pay attention to your fight!" Mitsu hissed. He switched targets and swung at Kisa.   
  
To his surprise, he met Xeo's sword once again. "That's taking things a little bit far, don't you think?" he asked coolly.  
  
"What? Don't like me attacking a pathetic, ugly girl?" Mitsu smirked.  
  
Xeo laughed, his voice cutting harshly against Mitsu's confidence. "Are you trying to be stupid?" he asked. "I am paying you all the attention that I need for such a pathetic loser as yourself."  
  
"Nani?!" Mitsu exclaimed.  
  
Xeo's dark eyes darkened further. "Ryu and Frost as a team with Briar fighting along side them. . . . . three great ninjas, and not one of them could lay a finger on me. That's why I escaped with the plans. I wasn't expecting them to send a mere peon like you to attempt to recapture me."  
  
"Well who did you expect?" Mitsu asked. His confidence was returning. He felt that with his transformation he was unbeatable.  
  
"Cell one. The cell led my so-called friends Frost and Sou," Xeo responded. "They are both - "  
  
  
  
"Dead." The word fell from Mitsu's warped mouth with a hint of laughter. "They're both dead."  
  
"And you killed them?" Xeo asked. He didn't appear to care that they were dead, but Kisa noted that his eyes had narrowed at the revelation. "With your wee little transformation. . . .perhaps?"  
  
"Not me. Ryu did, but that doesn't matter because I helped. I set the bomb and I lured Sou away from the main group. It was all too easy to eliminate the ninjas. In fact the only one who's evaded our death plans is - "  
  
"So it was Ryu, was it?" Xeo murmured. "How would you like to see a real transformation?"   
  
"A real transformation?" Kisa whispered. She was feeling faint from her self inflicted wounds.  
  
"Like you can." Mitsu challenged.  
  
Xeo crossed his arms in front of his face, bending his head down. A shattering noise, like millions of pieces of glass spraying into the air, filled the air.   
  
Kisa closed her eyes against the burst of rainbow colored light that accompanied it. When she opened them, Xeo's skin was a creamy white that reminded her of polished moonlight. His eyes were glittering like gems surrounded by thick eyelashes. And on top of that, he had a pair of dragon wings sprouting from between his shoulder blades.  
  
He smiled at Mitsu's shocked reaction, and when he smiled a hint of fangs showed past his lips. "This is my transformation. It's impressive, don't you think?"   
  
As the words died on his lips, Xeo vanished. "It's really something. A man like you assigned to Cell Two. Of course, that's not to say I have any particular desire to feel like Ryu was a good choice. And as for Drake, he didn't really have any offensive skills. He was your Cell's weak member. I suppose that he's with Ryu right - "  
  
"No, he refused our plans and made to betray us. We had him killed at the same time that we killed every member of Cell One."  
  
"If you killed Drake and all of Cell One, then who does that leave to evade your death plans?" Xeo asked with a raised eyebrow. The black haired ninja had reappeared behind Mitsu and delivered a sharp kick.  
  
Mitsu tumbled out of it and shot to his feet. "No one! I'm going to remedy the problem shortly."  
  
"You mean you're going to hunt down and kill someone?" Xeo asked. His strange colored sword penetrated Mitsu's scaly sword arm, sending his weapon clattered dully to the ground at Kisa's feet.  
  
Kisa stared at the sword. It had nearly killed her a few seconds ago. She reached out, her small fingers brushing the hilt while she watched the fight continue. No matter who won, she was still in trouble.  
  
The problem was she had a feeling that Mitsu was going to lose but only after reveling her as a ninja. That wouldn't really be good considering she could only see Xeo when he was holding still. Actually, if she really thought about it, she was going to die either way.  
  
Xeo kicked Mitsu again, sending him close to Kisa. He landed with a thump and didn't move. His yellow eyes were focused on her chest.   
  
"Stupid girl. I'll kill you," he hissed. Poison started to seep from his fangs and his head launched foreword towards her partially exposed chest.   
  
"Bastard!" Xeo exclaimed. "How dare you try and bite a woman's breasts!" He shot foreword, bound to arrive before Mitsu even got close.  
  
Kisa didn't hear anything that the black haired ninja had said. She was watching Mitsu advance with shock. Her eyes were too wide and her breathing too short. She thought about pulling away from him, but that would only delay her death. He would still manage to sink his fangs into part of her body.  
  
And even if he missed he would still seal her death. She didn't want to die. Her hand closed around the hilt of his sword tightly. Without conscious thought, she drove the katana deep into it's owners heart.  
  
Mitsu's eyes widened. "How? I'm better then . . . . Ki . . . Sou . . . " his voice trailed off on her name and he transformed back into human form, blood pouring from his chest.  
  
Kisa's breathing completely stopped as his eyes gained a glassy sheen. She scrambled backwards, but was gently guided to her feet.  
  
"I'm sorry," Xeo whispered as he slipped her arms into the sleeves of a silver and blue kimono. "I wanted him to tell me the name of the one person besides Ryu that I still have to .. . . . .kill. . . . " he murmured, both his voice and his transformation fading.  
  
"I shouldn't have gotten you involved. . . . " he added, looking away while tying the obi around her waist.  
  
Kisa's too wide eyes softened and tears began to brim in them. "I - I- I. . . ." she attempted to say.  
  
Xeo put his fingers to her lips. "Ssshhhh," he whispered. He made to scoop her up, but she backed away from him and knelt down beside Mitsu's body.   
  
"I killed him . . . ." she whispered, pressing her middle and forefinger to his neck, searching for a pulse. Tears started to leak out of her eyes.  
  
"He was going to kill you because . . . . . . . . " Xeo's voice trailed off. "Why was he trying to kill you?" He suddenly seized her wrists tightly and brought them closer, looking over the jagged cuts she had inflicted on herself.  
  
Kisa whimpered with the pain, but didn't make any motions to pull away from him. Her hands were balled tightly in fists, her knuckles white. Her entire body was tense. "I'm a . . . . . . . " her voice died before she could speak.  
  
Xeo striped her without her noticing and looked over all of her jagged wounds. "None of them have a sharp edge. I'm sorry," he murmured, dressing her again.  
  
Kisa blinked and looked at him. "Please, I need some water and a place to lie down. I feel - "  
  
He put his hand to her forehead. "You have a slight fever and are suffering form blood loss and starvation. I'll carry you - "  
  
"No!" Kisa screamed. "I'll walk. Please. . . . I need to walk. . . . " she pulled away from him.  
  
Xeo seemed a bit surprised, but humored her. He took her hand and led her back the way she had stumbled with the tiger chasing her before. He led her past the river where she had been bathing.   
  
The trail that they were following didn't look any different then any other path in the Amazon. It had flowers and weeds combining with trees and roots all over it, but eventually it evened out.  
  
It turned into a stone road with tuffs of grass shooting up through the cracks. It was easy to travel and within seconds they found themselves in front of a sprawling city that was half consumed by the vibrant green jungle.  
  
"This is my home for now," Xeo told her. "I'll take care off you, I promise I won't let anyone hurt you while you are with me."  
  
"Not even yourself?" Kisa murmured.  
  
"Not even myself," Xeo promised. "I would never hurt an innocent girl like yourself." He sounded sincere, but he still didn't know who she was.  
  
His promise made Kisa's shell shocked mind feel slightly better. Even if he didn't know what he was saying, she would hold him to it until the day it came for her to fight him.  
  
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Author's notes;  
  
I'm really trying to keep these chapters coming. Be patient if there is a delay. I'm writing three on-going stories after all. And with the arrival of summer, I'm having a hard time finding time to write.   
  
Just know that if there is a delay, I'll make it as short as possible. Thank-you for reading.  
  
Thanks for all the reviews,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	12. TsuRiyona, the city of sin

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
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They walked alone the broken stone streets. Kisa's bare feet slapped against the warm stones quietly, but Xeo's hard heeled boots made no noise. She supposed that was because he was a ninja.  
  
"This is TsuRiyona," he had told her as soon as they entered the city. "The City of Sin."  
  
"Why's it called - "  
  
"You don't really need to know," Xeo had interrupted her.   
  
"Yes I do," Kisa had protested.  
  
"Fine, the dead walk like the living in the nightime hours here. You don't go out if you don't want to be killed and eatern."  
  
Kisa hadn't asked anymore questions. She decided that he might be making it up, but they did pass a lot of graves alone the roadside.  
  
They were approaching a large building set in the middle of the ancient, sprawling city. Every now and then, Xeo attempted to carry or support her in some way. Each time that he tried it, Kisa moved away from him and muttered, "No." He always backed off, but Kisa knew that the slightest stumble would have him sweeping to her aid.  
  
They were approaching a large building set in the middle of the ancient, sprawling city. It seemed to Kisa that they had been taking a long time to get there, but that was probaby because of her injuries.  
  
"This used to be a safe house for ancient warriors who practiced the Shadow Arts," Xeo announced as he pressed his hand to the door. A whirling noise filled the air for a brief moment and a thick stone door slid open.  
  
"Shadow Arts?" Kisa questioned, stalling for time to think. She was staring apprehensively at the thick stone door. If she went in there was a chance that she might not get out again. Xeo might be leading her into a trap. She thought that she remembered Briar talking about the young ninja's love of decieving his enemies.  
  
"Yeah, ninjitsu . . . . . . . partially," Xeo responded lightly. He was standing patiently by the door, waiting for her to prodeede him. He was waiting, Kisa realized, for her to get comfortable. He knew that she was scared and stalling.  
  
"Partially?" she forced herself to ask. Xeo was reading her to well. She felt certain that he knew everything about her and was trying to trap her.  
  
He laughed, a thick melodious sound that seemed to lighten the air around him. "Let's just say that I'm not your basic ninja," he suggested.  
  
"Wh - "   
  
Xeo cut off her next question before she could begin to ask it. "For your own good, please don't ask me anymore. Let's go in and find you a place to sleep." He didn't wait for her response, instead, he strolled into the dark opening in the wall and waited for her to follow inside.  
  
Kisa sighed angrily. She needed his help. She couldn't just turn and walk away now. Besides, she should have been viewing everything as a favor. Xeo had saved her the time it would take to track him down, and now he was saving her the time of getting into his hideout.  
  
She stepped foreword and followed him wearily.  
  
He led her through several dark corridors.   
  
"Why's it so dark in here?" Kisa whispered. The air felt thick and was pressing around her ominously. Her eyes, which had grown accusumed to seeing in the dark, could barely make out the outlines of the walls.  
  
"There are sights in here that are not fit for a lady," Xeo said after a moment. "These things would make you feel ill, so I left the lights out when I came in."  
  
"What kind of things?" Kisa whispered softly.  
  
Xeo opened another door and escorted her through. "When you feel better I might allow you to see, but until then I request my reward."  
  
Kisa's eyes widened in panic as he pulled off his shirt, revealing a finely toned chest with a deep tan. She started to back away in fright, but he seized her wrist lightly, holding her in place.   
  
"Not like that," he laughed. He pointed to the bed. "You'll sleep there. I'm putting on fresh clothes. That idiot ninja managed to soil these ones with his rancorus breath."  
  
"What?" Kisa murmrued.  
  
"You don't like being held, ne?" Xeo asked. When she nodded he smiled cooly. "Then get in the bed now or I'll pick you up and put you there. You are injured and will get in that bed now."  
  
Kisa slipped into the bed, lying ontop of the covers and watching him with narrow eyes. Slowly, her images of him faded away as images of Mitsu's death filled her mind. She had never killed anyone before, but strangely enough, she didn't really regret it.  
  
She would even do it again if she needed to. If she hadn't, she would have died. It was simple. It was frightening. She was more disturbed at her lack of worry over Mitsu's death then his actual death.  
  
Xeo's moving around the room slowly faded from her hearing. The sound of night creatures and crickets filled her ears. Her nose took in the pleasent smell of the jungle. She could partically taste the thick jungle air on her tounge.   
  
She opened her eyes expecting to stare at the ceiling of Xeo's room. Instead, the dark shape of trees filled her vision. A burning sensation in her legs made her realize that she was running. The trees kept appearing out of nowhere. She was running really fast, possibly faster then she had ever run before.  
  
Reaching her arm up, she pushed a thin branch out of her path. The glistening white of bone protruding from her arm met her eyes, and pain surged through it as she put pressure on it.  
  
She heard Ryu laugh, loud and cruel. The sound sent angry fear through her body. She twisted to the side, snagging the shuriken that had just missed her neck and whipping it back at her assailent.  
  
He laughed again, and she picked up speed. Now her lungs were burning, but that was okay. His voice was dimming. She was getting away. He couldn't keep up with her.   
  
Then out of the bush in front of her sprang Mitsu. His eyes had a hollow, vaccant look in them. Blood stained the from on his uniform. He looked partially decomposed, like a zombie raised from the grave. He reached for her and she screamed.  
  
"Got you," Ryu whispered into her hair. He grabbed the back of her neck in a strong grip. "I'll take those," he whispered, pulling a manila envelope from her hands. "Bye." And then he broke her neck.  
  
Kisa woke up screaming. Her body was soaked in sweat and blood. Her voice felt hoarse and she realized that she had been screaming for a while. He breath came in short gasps and her eyes were wide.   
  
She clasped her arm, looking for the broken bone.   
  
"It was just a dream," Xeo told her softly.  
  
Her eyes swung towards him wildly. "I - " He sprang foreword and pressed his fingers to her lips.  
  
"Don't talk. It doesn't matter. It was just a dream . . . . . . . a personal dream." He offered her a glass of water.  
  
Kisa excepted in, clasping it in her hands tightly and watching the beads of condensation trickle down the outside of the glass. She almost took a drink, but the thickness in her throat made her stop.  
  
She glanced back at the bed, willing it to explain the nightmare. The white, cotten sheets were covered in blood. Her eyes widened and the glass fell from her fingers.  
  
Xeo caught it and placed it back in her hands. "I had to clean your cuts," he told her softly. "Since you don't like being carried, I cleaned them here. You should drink this," he added.  
  
Kisa took the water back and swallowed it all in one gulp. "Arigatou," she whispered.  
  
He smiled and took the glass from her. "That was a forced thanks for a forced drink, but you'll feel better with some liquid in your body."  
  
"Were my cuts that bad?" Kisa asked. The sheets seemed to have a lot of blood on them.  
  
"Cuts? With a knief?" Xeo asked.  
  
Kisa went numb. He knew. He knew that she was a ninja. He was probably going to kill her. She remembered the water. He had probably posioned her.  
  
"Well, I suppose, but it was the posion that I had to get out of your system, Miss Kisa," he said after a long moment.  
  
"Posion?" Kisa whispered.  
  
"There was posion in that ninja sword. By touching it, you infected yourself. That's why we had to come here."  
  
"What do you mean?" Kisa inquired in confusion.  
  
"I wasn't going to take you to my base. I was just going to take you to a tent and guide you safely to civilization."  
  
"And now?" Kisa asked even though she feared what his answer might be.  
  
"Well, if you don't mind. I think it'll be safer if you stay here until the Cells sent to kill me are all accounted for. They'll try and kill you for your association with me."  
  
'Not likely,' Kisa thought. 'I'm one of the people that was sent to kill you.'  
  
"Anyway, I got the venom out. The dream you had . . . . . . . I suppose I should warn you that it could come true," Xeo murmured.   
  
Kisa shifted her gaze towards him fearfully. "So that's going to happen . . . . " she whispered. She put her hand on her neck and tried to shut out the pain she had felt in her dream. The pain that she had felt when he grabbed and snapped her neck.  
  
Xeo was shaking his head slightly. "It could happen. Right now, it's just a Shadow Image."  
  
"Shadow image?" Kisa whispered.   
  
"It could happen. There is a great chance that it won't happen like that either, so don't worry too much about it, okay?"   
  
"How can I not worry?" Kisa demanded hotly. She had tears streaming down her face and she couldn't figure out how to stop them.  
  
"What happened in the dream?" Xeo asked lightly.  
  
Kisa fell silent. "Xeo . . . . . . . " she murmured, her voice trailing off.   
  
He laughed. "Come on, Kisa. Just tell me what frightens you."  
  
She looked away. "You laugh too easily," she told him. He smiled and nodded for her to continue. She knew that she couldn't tell him everything. He'd know that she was after his plans if she did.  
  
She told him. "And then he snaps my neck," she finished.  
  
"We'll just make sure that it doens't come true then," Xeo told her. "I'll show you how to Shift . . . . . just in case, ne?"  
  
"Shift?" Kisa asked.  
  
"Not like in the clearing. That was more of a transformation. What I'm talking about is to fade away from one place and reappear in another."  
  
"That's not possible," Kisa told him. She knew that it was though. She knew it because she had seen both Briar and Ryu Shift on her first day of training.  
  
"Silly, little ninja . . . ." Xeo murmured. "I know your secret."  
  
Kisa went numb.  
  
"I know all about every member of my old friend Frost's Cell. I know all about you . . . . . Ki, is it?" He pulled his sword out and swung it in a lazy arc. "I know that you're here to kill me and steal the plans back."  
  
Kisa didn't know what to do. She stared at him in shock. Then she recovered. She refused to just sit by and be killed. She shot foreword, slamming a kick into the side of his knee.  
  
Then she grabbed his sword from his momentarily limp fingers and held it in a defensive position.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes;  
  
It's been a while, but I've been having a hard time uploading chapters. I keep getting 'This page can't be found" messages. It's getting rather fustrating. Oh well. I suppose that I can't help it.  
  
Thank-you to everyone who reviewed and to everyone that's read my story this far.  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


	13. Friends

Standard disclaimers apply.  
  
************************  
  
Xeo seemed to be more amused then worried. "Why would I offer to teach you if I intended to train you?" he asked lightly, pulling the bloody sheets off of the bed and tossing them down what was probably a laundry chute.  
  
Kisa, holding his sword in a tight two handed grip, didn't respond for a moment. "I don't know - you're the criminal mastermind!" she finally shouted. Her breath was coming to quick and she was feeling queasy from the amount of blood that she had lost.  
  
"I'm the . . . . ." Xeo's voice dissolved into laughter. "I'm no criminal mastermind. In order to be that, I'd have to have minions and flunkies, ne?"  
  
Kisa blinked to clear her wavering vision. Xeo didn't appear to be dangerous, but then what if it was just a trick?"  
  
She braced her feet solidly on the ground and relaxed her body into her defensive stance. It had been the last thing that Briar had taught her.   
  
"When facing an opponent who you know is stronger then you, take up a stance," the black haired teacher had said.  
  
"That's not a good position to assume when fighting me. In fact, personally, I don't like that stance at all. Back in my Academy days the teachers always tried to make me assume it . . . . . I hated it, but I did it and learned every weakness it has." Xeo smiled and walked foreword.  
  
Kisa tensed.   
  
"For example, against a stronger opponent, you're making it easy for the shinobi to hit you. You want to keep your enemies confused and the best way to do that is to move."  
  
"If I move I'll fall over!" Kisa blurted out before she could stop herself.  
  
"And you never tell your enemy your weakness either," Xeo continued. He passed her and opened a closet. Inside was a large selection of white linens. He pulled out a light white sheet and proceeded to head back to the bed.  
  
Kisa lowered her sword. Even if he was pulling some sort of trick on her, she couldn't maintain that position and stay conscious at the same time. She had to pick one and the choice was really simple.  
  
She slumped down against the doorframe and Xeo winced.  
  
"You probably got you injuries dirty again. I didn't get a chance to wrap them up yet," he said, gesturing to a neat pile of white gauze."  
  
"How'd you know?" Kisa asked, ignoring his words.  
  
"Know what?" he asked, tossing fresh blankets over the bed.  
  
"How did you know that I was a ninja?" she asked.  
  
Xeo stopped moving for a long moment. "Actually, I didn't." He smiled slightly. "I guessed and you confirmed my guess with your reaction."  
  
Kisa's mind blanked. That meant that he hadn't known. She had blown her cover herself. "Then you're going to kill me," she whispered.  
  
Xeo shrugged. "I might not have to. There are a couple of options available, you know. First, I could just let you bleed to death (I don't think you like that option ). Either that, or I could pick you up and force some bandages on you, (I don't think you want to be picked up either . . .) You could behave and get fixed up, then I could go and get you some food and we could talk about your training - "  
  
"Shut up!" Kisa interrupted. "I don't understand you at all!"  
  
"Not many people do . . . . I've always been alone because of that," Xeo said.  
  
"No, you haven't," Kisa said firmly.  
  
"Really?" Xeo asked. "And how would you know, Miss Kisa? You don't mind if I call you Miss Kisa, do you? Would you prefer if I call you 'Ki'?" he added quickly.  
  
"Ah . . . . " Kisa managed. "Just Kisa's good . . . I guess."  
  
Xeo smiled. "Well then, Kisa, shall I go get you something to eat and then fix up your back?" he asked.  
  
Kisa didn't say anything.  
  
Xeo smiled and walked soundlessly past her. "I'll be right back," he promised.  
  
While he was gone, Kisa stood up and wondered around the room. She placed his sword on the dresser, deciding that she couldn't beat him in a fight anyway.   
  
It was all so confusing. He was an excellent ninja - she could tell from his mannerisms and movements - but at the same time, he was kind and considerate. He was, oddly enough, a gentlemen. He felt more like a good guy then everyone at Shinobi Academy, with the exception of Kenneth.  
  
Thinking of Kenneth made her feel ill again. He had always pretended to be mean to her, but she knew that he appreciated her skills. He could have been her friend, if he hadn't been killed. She felt that eventually, he would have warmed up to her and then she could have -   
  
The door opened, throwing her thoughts off. "Frost was your friend, so you weren't alone," she announced immediately.  
  
"Frost was my friend," Xeo acknowledged. He set some food down in front of her. "But at a school like Shinobi Academy . . . . . . friendship doesn't count for much. You're always on your own. Having friends . . . . . it doesn't matter that much . . . you're in competition with everyone, and if you're the best . . . . . ." his voice trailed off angrily.  
  
Kisa hesitated then prompted his to continue. "If you're the best . . . . . "   
  
"If you're the best, then everyone's your enemy," Xeo said softly. "If you're at the top, then everyone . . . teams up to beat you. I wanted to be the best so that I wouldn't be alone anymore - just me and Frost and things got pretty lonely - I wanted to have lots of friends." He laughed. "In short, I got greedy."  
  
"What about at home?" Kisa asked, thinking about Tohru and Haru. "Didn't you're family - "  
  
"Orphan." Xeo said shortly. "My parents were both killed by Male, a teacher from the Black Rose Academy, after they refused to let me train at her school. I was only two then, and I've been alone ever since."  
  
"What about Frost?" Kisa asked, watching him intently for any sign of a lie or sneak attack.  
  
"Frost . . . . . he was a member of Cell Zero . . . my Cell. He requested transfer and became the leader of Cell One. He wanted to beat me and we haven't spoken since the transfer. I always wanted to make up with him, but I never got the chance," Xeo added.  
  
"And now you'll never get the chance," Kisa murmured. She brushed tears away from her eyes, tears she hadn't realized she was crying until just then.  
  
"Why not? He's coming here, isn't he?" Xeo asked. He wasn't crying, but his eyes were glittering brightly.  
  
"No, he's dead, just like Mitsu said," Kisa murmured.  
  
"Not likely," Xeo answered. "I know Frost better then that. And I know Ryu. He couldn't kill him, and besides that, he'd have no reason to kill off Cell One and a member of his team."  
  
"He's probably following orders," Kisa answered.  
  
Xeo frowned. "The teachers at Shinobi Academy all like Frost. He's . . . their fav. because he turned against me. They wouldn't order his death."  
  
Kisa looked away. "You're working for the same people that Ryu's working for," she said.  
  
"As far as I know, Ryu's not working for me . . . because that's who I'm working for, myself," Xeo said, jerking his thumb towards his chest.  
  
"But aren't you working for the Black Rose Academy?" Kisa asked curiously.  
  
"Nope," Xeo said. "I have no reason to work for my parents murderers. At least none that I can see. That's just speculation."  
  
"Then why'd you steal the plans?" Kisa demanded.  
  
"I didn't want those orders to be carried out," Xeo answered. "They're not plans, it's just a map."  
  
"A map to what?" Kisa asked.  
  
Xeo leaned closer to her, peering at her hard. "Didn't they tell you?" he finally asked. "I stole your teams next mission, I stole the map to Trinity."  
  
"Trinity?" Kisa whispered.  
  
"Yeah, Trinity. Their is a treasure there that shouldn't be touched. It's evil . . . cursed. But the only person who will be cursed will be the one who removes the treasure. That idiot, Konimitsu's father, managed to make headmaster. He wants the treasure, and he wants it bad. I wasn't ready to give up on my friendship with Frost."  
  
"If I let him go, I'd never see him again. They'd kill him after he returned, favorite or not. It's my last duty as his friend to take the treasure and put it beyond their reach. Even at the cost of being cursed."  
  
Kisa didn't respond as Xeo began to treat her cuts. She felt a little ill. She couldn't believe that he would be willing to be cursed for his friend, a friend that didn't even acknowledge their friendship anymore.  
  
"I'm really sorry, but you are a member of Frost's Cell," Xeo announced softly.   
  
Kisa blinked, and then the world darkened around her.  
  
************************  
  
Author's notes,  
  
It's been way too long since I updated this story, but I had a bit of writers block. Since its gone now, updates should be more regular.   
  
I also want to mention that Kenneth is not dead. It's taking longer then I thought to get that point out. He's one of my fav. characters, so no worried about his death, kay?  
  
Thanks for reading,  
  
Kissa-chan 


End file.
